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Edited  by  E.  Hershey  Sneath,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 


A  BOOK  ABOUT  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


.^^^ 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NIW  YORK  •  BOSTON  •  CHICAGO  •  DAIiAS 
ATLANTA  •  SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  Liiotkd 

LONDON   •  BOMBAY   •  CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNS 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA.  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE 

ENGLISH  BIBLE 

3 


BY 
JOSIAH  H.  PENNIMAN,  Ph.D.,  LL.D. 

VICE-PROVOST  AND  PROFESSOR  OF  ENGLISH  LITERATURE  IN  THE 
UNIVERSITY  OF  PENNSYLVANIA 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1919 

Ail  rights  reserved 


COVYUOHT,   lOIO 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
Set  up  and  clectxotypcd.    Published  June,  xgig 


The  Bible  text  used  in  this  volume,  except  where  otherwise  marked,  is 
taken  from  the  American  Standard  Edition  of  the  Revised  Bible,  (in  several 
passages  referred  to  as  the  American  Revised  Version)  copyright  1901  by 
Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons,  and  is  used  by  permission. 


TO  THE  MEMORY 

OF  MY 

FATHER  AND  MOTHER 


^:'?27r>6 


PREFACE 

This  volume  is  simply  what  its  title  indicates,  "A 
Book  about  the  English  Bible."  It  has  grown  out  of  a 
series  of  lectures  delivered  to  students  in  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  the  purpose  of  which  was  to  give  a 
brief  account  of  the  English  Bible,  its  immediate 
sources  and  their  contents,  their  literary  background 
and  surroundings,  the  forms  and  characteristics  of  the 
constituent  books  and  their  relation  to  each  other. 
To  the  chapters,  in  which  these  subjects  are  suggested, 
rather  than  discussed,  have  been  added  several  others 
containing  a  short  history  of  the  translation  of  the 
Bible  into  English,  from  Saxon  times  to  our  own  day. 
Attention  is  called  to  the  differences  between  the 
commonly  used  English  versions  as  regards  contents 
and  translation,  and  to  the  reasons  for  the  differences. 

It  is  hoped  that  the  reader  may  be  sufficiently  in- 
terested by  what  is  said  in  the  various  chapters,  to  de- 
sire to  pursue  the  study  further  by  means  of  other  books 
such  as  those  named  in  the  appended  Bibliography.  . 

To  my  colleagues  Dr.  C.  G.  Child  and  Dr.  J.  A. 
Montgomery,  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
to  Dr.  F.  C.  Porter  and  Dr.  E.  H.  Sneath,  of  Yale 
University,  all  of  whom  read  the  manuscript,  or  special 
portions  of  it,  and  to  my  brother  Dr.  James  H.  Penni- 
man  who  read  the  proof,  I  desire  to  express  my  gratitude 
for  suggestions  and  corrections.  To  Dr.  Montgomery 
I  am  indebted  also  for  his  kind  permission  to  print  his 
translation  of  several  of  the  poems  of  Isaiah. 

Thanks  are  due  to  publishers  for  permission  to  make 
quotations  from  their  copyrighted  books;  to  Houghton 

vii 


A  BOOK  ABOUT  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 


A  BOOK  ABOUT   THE  ENGLISH 
BIBLE 

CHAPTER  I 

THE  SOURCES  OF  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE 

Over  the  entrance  to  the  Library  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania  are  the  lines: — 

"O  blessed  letters  that  combine  in  one 
All  ages  past,  and  make  one  Hve  with  all, 
By  you  we  do  commune  with  who  are  gone. 
And  the  dead-Hving  unto  counsel  call." 

Impressive  words!  reminding  the  student  who  may 
chance  to  read  them  that  in  literature  the  world  has  a 
heritage  with  which  no  other  of  its  possessions  can 
compare  in  value,  for  by  words,  more  than  by  any 
other  form  of  expression,  the  mind  and  heart  are  re- 
vealed and  the  intellectual  and  spiritual  treasure  of 
the  race  preserved.  Through  books  we  may  know  the 
mind  of  the  past  and  transmit  the  mind  of  the  present. 

The  greatest  book  is  the  Bible,  and  the  reason  for 
the  place  assigned  to  it  is  that  it  contains  interpretations 
of  human  life,  actual  and  ideal,  which  reveal  man  to 
himself,  in  his  joys  and  sorrows,  his  triumphs  and  his 
defeats,  his  aspirations  and  his  possibilities,  his  rela- 
tions to  other  men,  and,  comprehending  and  enveloping 
all,  his  relations  to  God.    Men  may  differ  about  what 


2  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  Bible  is,  but  the  fact  remains  that  for  centuries 
millions  of  men,  of  all  grades  of  intelligence  and  learning, 
have  believed  that  the  Bible  speaks  to  them  as  no  other 
book  has  ever  spoken,  and  that  what  it  says  comes  with 
an  authority  derived  from  God  himself.  The  primary 
spiritual  problem  of  man  is  his  relations  to  God.  Men, 
everywhere,  recognize  the  existence  of  an  intelligent 
power  outside  and  higher  than  themselves  that  con- 
trols and  regulates  the  universe.  The  individual  who 
doubts  or  denies  the  existence  of  God  is  exceptional, 
and  his  opinions  are  at  variance  with  human  belief 
and  experience.  The  Bible,  concerned  as  it  is  in  its 
component  parts  with  the  revelation  of  God  to  man, 
and  the  relation  of  man  to  God,  has  held  the  attention 
of  men  because  it  is  true  to  the  truths  of  life  and  sat- 
isfying to  the  yearnings  of  the  human  spirit.  Men 
have  found  it  so,  and  there  is  an  abiding  faith  that  men 
will  continue  to  find  it  so. 

Beliefs  concerning  the  Jehovah  of  the  Old  Testament, 
and  the  worship  of  Jehovah,  existed  long  before  any 
accounts  of  such  beliefs  and  worship  were  ever  written. 
The  writings  we  have  are  not  the  earliest.  Included  in 
the  Old  Testament  are  portions  of  writings  that  long 
antedate  any  of  the  existing  books  as  we  have  them, 
and  that  may  properly  be  regarded  as  important 
sources  of  the  books.  The  teachings  of  Jesus  were  re- 
lated orally  for  some  years  before  any  part  of  the  New 
Testament  was  written. 

Reverence  for  the  Bible  is  increased  by  a  knowledge 
of  the  history  of  its  transmission  down  the  centuries, 
through  many  languages,  and  many  versions,  preserv- 
ing always  its  distinctive  qualities  unimpaired  by  the 
frailties  of  human  copyists,  and  unchanged  through 
the  lapse  of  time. 


THE    SOURCES    OF   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  3 

THE    HEBREW    SCRIPTURES 

The  title-pages  of  the  modern  EngUsh  versions  of  the 
Bible,  with  the  exception  of  the  Douay  Bible,  state 
that  they  are  translations  from  the  original  tongues. 
A  copy  of  the  latter  states  that  it  is  "translated  .  .  . 
out  of  the  Authentical  Latin  .  .  .  conferred  with  the 
Hebrew,  Greeke  and  other  Editions  in  divers  lan- 
guages." 

The  Old  Testament  is  in  Hebrew,  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  passages,  which  are  in  Aramaic,  Ezra  4:8^6:18; 
7:12-26,  Daniel  2:4b-7:28,  Jeremiah  io:ii.  The  New 
Testament  is  in  Greek,  These  are  the  original  lan- 
guages. The  conquests  of  Alexander  spread  the  knowl- 
edge of  Greek  in  the  East,  and  in  cities  like  Alexandria, 
great  and  populous,  were  many  Jews  who  adopted  the 
language  as  their  own.  In  the  time  of  Jesus  the  con- 
quests of  Rome  had  brought  Latin  also  into  the  East 
where  it  became  the  language  of  the  government.  At 
the  Crucifixion,  the  inscription  placed  on  the  cross  was 
"in  Hebrew  and  in  Latin  and  in  Greek."  John  19:  20. 
These  three  languages  contain  the  immediate  sources 
of  our  Bible.  The  original  language  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment was  Hebrew,  but  our  oldest  manuscripts  con- 
taining it  are  in  Greek,  into  which  the  Jewish  Scrip- 
tures were  translated.  Some  of  the  Greek  versions 
antedate  by  centuries  our  oldest  Hebrew  copies,  which 
are  the  Petrograd  Codex  of  the  Prophets  916  a.  d.  and 
a  manuscript  of  the  entire  Scriptures,  also  at  Petrograd, 
and  dating  perhaps  as  early  as  1009  a.  d. 

The  Jewish  Scriptures  have  come  down  to  us  with 
what  is  known  as  an  "accepted  text"  as  a  result  of  the 
care  of  the  Sopherim,  who  were  the  custodians  of  the 
sacred  text  until  the  sixth  century,  when  it  was  taken 


4  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

over  by  the  Massorites,  the  work  of  the  two  groups  of 
scholars  being  thus  differentiated  by  Dr.  C.  D.  Gins- 
burg: 

"The  Sopherim  .  .  .  were  the  authorized  revisers  and 
redactors  of  the  text  according  to  certain  principles,  the 
Massorites  were  precluded  from  developing  the  principles 
and  altering  the  text  in  harmony  with  these  canons.  Their 
province  was  to  safeguard  the  text  delivered  to  them,  by 
'building  a  hedge  around  it,'  to  protect  it  against  alterations, 
or  the  adoption  of  any  readings  which  still  survived  in  man- 
uscripts or  were  exhibited  in  the  ancient  versions."  ^ 

The  Jewish  Scriptures,  which  the  early  Christian 
Church  accepted  as  inspired,  consisted  of  three  sep- 
arate collections  as  follows:  i,  "The  Law";  Genesis, 
Exodus,  Leviticus,  Numbers,  Deuterqpomy;  2,  "The 
Pro£hets";  Joshua,  Judges,  I  Samuel,  II  Samuel,  I 
Kings,  II  Kings,  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel,  (The 
Twelve),  Hosea,  Joel,  Amos,  Obadiah,  Jonah,  Micah, 
Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zechariah, 
Malachi;  3,  "The  Writings";  Psalms,  Proverbs,  Job, 
Song  of  Songs,  Ruth,  Lamentations,  Ecclesiastes, 
Esther,  Daniel,  Ezra,  Nehemiah,  I  Chronicles,  II 
Chronicles.  It  will  be  seen  that  the  order  in  which  the 
books  are  placed  in  the  English  Bible  is  not  that  of  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures.  The  latter  vary  slightly  in  the 
order  of  the  books  in  "The  Prophets"  and  "The  Writ- 
ings," but  no  book  of  one  collection  is  ever  placed  in 
another.  The  three  collections  are  each  definite  in  text 
and  in  contents.  "The  Prophets"  are  subdivided  into 
the  "Former,"  Joshua,  Judges,  I  Samuel,  II  Samuel, 
I  Kings,  II  Kings,  and  the  "Latter,"  Isaiah-Malachi. 
The  "Latter"  are  divided  by  length  of  books  into  "The 

*  C.  D.  Ginsburg,  Introduction  to  the  Hebrew  Bible,  London,  1897,  p.  421. 


THE    SOURCES    OF   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  5 

Major,"  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Ezeklel,^  and  "The  Twelve" 
or  "The  Minor,"  Hosea-Malachi.  Included  in  "The 
Writings"  is  a  group  known  as  the  "Five  Rolls"  or 
"Megilloth,"  the  Song  of  Songs,  Ruth,  Lamentations, 
Ecclesiastes,  and  Esther,  which  were  and  are  read  in 
the  synagogues  at  the  celebration  of  the  Passover, 
Pentecost,  9th  of  Ab  (destruction  of  Jerusalem),  Tab- 
ernacles, Purim,  respectively.  There  are  two  distinct 
series  of  historical  books  in  the  Old  Testament,  one  of 
which  consists  of  Genesis-II  Kings, ^  inclusive,  that  is, 
from  Creation  to  the  release  of  Jehoiachin  from  Babylon 
562  B.  c;  the  other  is  I  Chronicles-Nehemiah,  inclu- 
sive. This  begins  with  Adam,  I  Chronicles  i:i,  and 
closes  with  the  second  visit  of  Nehemiah  to  Jerusalem, 
432  B.  c.  The  Hebrew  Scriptures  ended  with  II  Chron- 
icles and  this  will  explain  the  reference  in  Matthew 
23 135,  "all  the  righteous  blood  shed  upon  the  earth  from 
the  blood  of  Abel  (Genesis  4:8)  .  .  .  unto  the  blood  of 
Zachariah,  son  of  Barachiah,"  (II  Chronicles  24:20,  al- 
though he  is  there  called  the  son  of  Jehoiada^). 

The  dividing.  Into  two  books  each,  of  Samuel,  Kings, 

*  Daniel  is  in  "  The  Writings  "  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  not  in  "  The 
Prophets." 

*  Except  Ruth,  which,  because  of  its  opening  reference  to  the  Judges,  was 
placed  in  the  Septuagint,  and  consequently  in  the  Latin  and  English  versions, 
immediately  after  Judges. 

•There  are  many  such  apparent  discrepancies  in  the  Bible.  In  Ezra  5:1, 
Zechariah  is  called  "the  son  of  Iddo";  In  Zecharlah  i:i,  "the  sori  of  Bere- 
chlah,"  "the  son  of  Iddo."  Similarly  Zerubbabel  is  In  I  Chronicles  3:19 
the  son  of  Pedaiah;  in  Ezra  3:2,  Nehemiah  12:1,  and  Haggal  1:1  he  is  "the 
son  of  Shealtlel."  Salah  (Shelah)  Is  In  Genesis  11:12,  the  son  of  Arpachshad, 
and  in  Luke  3 :35-36,  the  son  of  Cainan,  son  of  Arphaxad.  There  are  twenty 
seven  differences  between  the  two  Hsts  of  names  given  In  Ezra  2:2-60,  and 
Nehemiah  7:7-62.  These  and  other  discrepancies  are  usually  easily  ex- 
plained. In  Matthew  27:5,  we  are  told  that  Judas  "hanged  himself,"  while 
m  Acts  1:18,  we  read  of  him  "and  falling  headlong,  he  burst  asunder  in  the 
midst,  and  all  his  bowels  gushed  out."  One  statement  does  not  exclude  the 
possibility  of  the  other.  He  may  have  hanged  himself  on  some  high  place 
from  which  he  afterwards  fell. 


O  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Ezra-Nehemiah  and  Chronicles,  which  Jerome  called 
"double  books,"  and  the  counting  of  the  "Minor 
Prophets"  as  twelve,  where  the  Jews  counted  them  as 
one  book,  causes  our  Old  Testament  to  include  as  thirty- 
nine  the  books,  which  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  were 
counted  as  twenty-four.  Among  Jewish  scholars  were 
differences  of  opinion  as  to  the  inclusion  of  Esther, 
Ecclesiastes,  the  Song  of  Songs,  Ezra  and  Chronicles, 
but  as  a  result  of  the  Rabbinical  Councils  at  Jamnia 
about  90  A.  D.  and  118  a.  d.  the  third  collection  of  the 
Hebrew,  as  we  have  it,  was  finally  decided  upon. 

There  is  reason  for  believing  that  the  Scriptures  of 
the  Palestinian  Jews  were  complete  as  early  as  the  time 
of  Judas  Maccabseus,  although  among  different  sects 
such  as  the  Pharisees,  Sadducees,  Essenes  and  Zealots, 
were  differences  of  opinion  concerning  the  books,  which 
continued  until  the  Councils  of  Jamnia.  The  threefold 
collection  is  thought  to  be  referred  to  in  the  Prologue 
of  the  Wisdom  of  Jesus,  the  son  of  Sirach: — 

"My  grandfather  Jesus,  .  .  .  having  much  given  himself 
to  the  reading  of  the  law,  and  the  prophets,  and  other  books 
of  our  fathers,  etc." 

In  the  time  of  Jesus  the  Son  of  Sirach,  the  Hebrew 
Scriptures  were  accessible  in  Greek.  About  that  time, 
in  the  persecution  by  Antiochus,  "sacred  books"  of  the 
Jews  were  burnt  and  possessors  of  a  copy  of  the  book 
of  the  Covenant  were  put  to  death. 

When  the  Hebrew  collections  were  made  we  do  not 
know.  The  book  of  the  law  was  fundamental  and 
there  was  doubtless  some  written  form  of  the  law  very 
early.  In  Joshua  8:32-35,  a  book  closely  associated 
with  Deuteronomy,  we  are  told  that  Joshua  read  "all 
the  words  of  the  law  .  .  .  written  in  the  book  of  the 


THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  7 

law"  and  also  that  he  wrote  upon  "stones  a  copy  of 
the  law  of  Moses."  According  to  an  ancient  tradition 
the  inscriptions  here  mentioned  were  in  all  the  languages 
of  the  world.  Jehoshaphat  appointed  men  to  teach 
the  law  to  the  people,  II  Chronicles  17:7-9,  and  Ezra 
read  to  the  people  from  the  book  of  the  law  of  Moses, 
Nehemiah  13:1.  In  the  reign  of  Josiah  a  copy  of  the 
law  was  found  by  Hilkiah  the  priest,  II  Chronicles 
34:14.  This  JDook,  so  often  referred  to,  was  not  our 
Pentateuch,  as  we  have  it,  but  it  seems  certain  that 
our  Pentateuch  includes  a  large  part,  if  not  all  of  what 
is  in  these  passages  called  "the  law  of  Moses."  It  is 
probable  that  the  following  statement  has  reference  to 
the  preservation  of  the  collections  which  now  constitute 
the  Old  Testament: — 

"And  the  same  things  were  related  both  in  the  public 
archives  and  in  the  records  that  concern  Nehemiah;  and  how 
he,  founding  a  library,  gathered  together  the  books  about  the 
kings  and  prophets,  and  the  hooks  of  David,  and  letters  of 
kings  about  sacred  gifts.  And  in  like  manner  Judas  also 
gathered  together  for  us  all  those  writings  that  had  been 
scattered  by  reason  of  the  war  that  befell,  and  they  are  still 
with  us."    II  Maccabees  2:13-14. 

There  is  an  old  story  that  the  Hebrew  Sacred  Books 
were  lost  during  the  Babylonian  captivity,  605  to  536 
B.  c,  and  that  their  preservation  is  due  to  Ezra.  In 
the  Fourth  Book  of  Esdras  (II  Esdras  of  the  Apocry- 
pha), which  dates  probably  from  about  100  a.  d.,  is  a 
passage,  14:23-48,  in  which  it  is  stated  that  Ezra, 
from  memory,  with  the  aid  of  five  skillful  scribes  pro- 
duced in  a  forty-day  period  "ninety-four"  (Syr.  Eth. 
Arab,  Arm.  versions,  reading  "two  hundred  and  four," 
Latin    copies   varying)    books,   of  which   twenty-four 


8  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

(the  Hebrew  Scriptures?)  were  to  be  published  openly 
and  the  remaining  "seventy"  kept  for  "such  as  be 
wise  among  the  people."  This  story  is  connected  with 
another  tradition,  equally  without  foundation  in  fact, 
that  Ezra  and  a  group  of  learned  men  known  as  the 
"Great  Synagogue"  or  "Assembly,"  connected  with 
the  second  Temple,  after  the  return  from  Babylon, 
collected  and  edited  the  Hebrew  Sacred  Scriptures. 
During  the  third  century  b.  c.  we  find  the  Hebrew 
"Law"  being  translated  into  Greek,  a  language  into 
jwhich  all  the  Scriptures  were  put,  forming  ultimately 
y  what  became  known  as  the  Septuagint,  or  Greek  Old 
Testament. 

The  Hebrew  collections  are  referred  to  in  the  New 
Testament  in  a  number  of  passages,  such  as  Matthew 
7:12,  "this  is  the  law  and  the  prophets";  Luke  16:31, 
"  If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the  prophets."  "  Psalms  " 
in  the  following  passage  may  refer  simply  to  the  book 
of  Psalms  or  to  the  third  collection,  called  by  the  name 
of  the  book  which  is  usually  placed  first  in  it;  at  all 
events  the  three  collections  were  evidently  in  mind 
when  the  words  were  spoken : — 

"All  things  must  needs  be  fulfilled,  which  are  written 
in  the  law  of  Moses,  and  the  prophets,  and  the  psalms  con- 
cerning me."    Luke  24:44. 

Upon  the  restoration  of  the  Jewish  State,  as  related 
in  the  books  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  it  was  necessary 
that  the  people  should  become  familiar  with  the  an- 
cient law  of  Moses.  There  was,  however,  a  difficulty, 
as  the  Hebrew  of  the  law  was  not  the  spoken  language 
of  the  people.  This  is  probably  the  meaning  of  the 
words : 


THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  9 

"And  they  read  in  the  book,  in  the  law  of  God,  distinctly 
(margin  *with  an  interpretation');  and  they  gave  the  sense, 
so  that  they  understood  the  reading."    Nehemiah  8:8. 

"The  Rabbis  perceived  in  this  activity  of  the  first 
generation  of  the  Sopherim  the  origin  of  the  Aramaic 
translation  known  as  the  Targum,  first  made  orally, 
and  afterwards  committed  to  writing,  which  was  neces- 
sitated by  the  fact  that  Israel  had  forgotten  the  sacred 
language,  and  spoke  the  idiom  current  in  a  large  part 
of  western  Asia.  All  this,  however,  is  veiled  in  obscurity 
as  is  the  whole  inner  history  of  the  Jews  during  the 
Persian  rule."  ^ 

The  Aramaic  Targum  is  of  importance  because,  as  Dr. 
Margolis  says: — "  ...  it  enables  us  to  gain  an  insight 
into  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures  at  a  time  when 
tradition  had  not  yet  wholly  died  out."  ^  The  Baby- 
lonian Targum  of  Onkelos  contained  the  Pentateuch, 
as  did  also  the  Palestinian  Targum  of  Jerusalem.  Of 
the  "Prophets"  there  is  a  Babylonian  Targum  and 
fragments  of  a  Palestinian.  The  Targum  of  the  "Writ- 
ings" is  Palestinian.  There  are  other  Targums  which 
differ  somewhat  from  each  other  in  being  freer,  or  more 
literal,  in  their  translation  of  the  Hebrew  text. 

THE    SEPTUAGINT 

It  was  but  natural  that  books  held  in  such  reverence 
by  the  Jews  should  become  known  to  others,  and  a 
Greek  translation  of  the  Scriptures  was  sure  to  be  made. 
Special  reasons  for  it  existed  at  Alexandria,  that  being 
a  great  center  of  Greek  learning  and  the  seat  of  a  famous 

*  Preface  to  The  Holy  Scriptures^  a  new  translation,  The  Jewish  Publica- 
tion Society  of  America,  1917. 

*  M.  L.  Margolis,  The  Story  of  Bible  Translations,  Philadelphia,  1917,  p.  21. 


lO  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

library.  There  had  been  Jews  In  Egypt  for  centuries 
before  the  time  of  Alexander,  who,  when  he  founded 
\/Alexandria  (332  b.  c),  recognized  the  loyalty  and 
courage  of  a  race,  representatives  of  which  had  fought 
in  his  armies,  by  setting  apart  in  the  new  city  a  special 
place  for  Jewish  colonists,  whom  he  admitted  to  full 
citizenship.^  They  were  allowed  to  transform  an 
Egyptian  temple  at  Leontopolis  into  a  replica  of  the 
Temple  at  Jerusalem,  and  to  celebrate  Jewish  rites  there 
until  the  coming  of  the  Romans  ended  this.  An  idea 
of  the  wide  dispersion  of  the  Jews  and  also  of  their 
loyalty  to  their  religion  and  to  Jerusalem  its  center, 
is  given  in  the  opening  of  the  second  chapter  of 
Acts. 

The  Greek  version  of  the  Scriptures  was  in  circulation 
in  the  time  of  Jesus.  A  story  of  how  this  version  came 
into  existence  is  told  in  an  ancient  letter  of  Aristeas  to 
Philocrates.  This  letter  was  quoted  by  the  Alexandrian 
writers  Aristobulus  and  Philo,  and  by  Josephus,  the 
historian  of  the  Jews.  We  know,  therefore,  that  the 
letter  was  in  existence  as  early  as  the  first  century  of 
the  Christian  era.  Aristeas  says  that  the  Greek  transla- 
tion of  the  Pentateuch  was  made  by  order  of  Ptolemy 
Philadelphus  (285-246  b.  c.)  at  the  suggestion  of 
Demetrius  Phalereus,  librarian  of  the  royal  library  at 
Alexandria.  An  embassy  was  sent  to  Eleazar  the  High 
Priest,  at  Jerusalem,  with  the  request  that  he  send  to 
Alexandria,  with  a  copy  of  the  Hebrew  Law,  six  elders, 
from  each  of  the  twelve  tribes  of  Israel,  to  make  a 
translation  for  the  royal  library.  Philo  states  that  the 
anniversary  of  the  completion  of  the  translation  was 
celebrated  yearly.    This  story,  while  for  many  reasons 

*  See  H.  B.  Swete,  The  Old  Testament  in  Greek,  Cambridge,  1900,  Introduc- 
tion, p.  4. 


THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  II 

of  doubtful  accuracy  and  authenticity,  is  quoted  by 
early  Christian  writers  as  authority.  An  interesting 
variant  of  the  story  makes  the  number  of  translators 
seventy,  instead  of  seventy-two,  and  states  that  they 
worked  independently,  each  in  a  separate  cell,  and  that 
when  they  compared  their  work,  on  its  completion, 
every  copy  agreed,  verbatim  et  literatim^  with  the  others. 
The  Talmud  gives  the  story  of  the  seventy-two  trans- 
lators, but  speaks  also  of  another  tradition  which 
attributed  the  Greek  version  of  the  Law  to  five  elders. 
What  we  are  sure  of  is  that  a  translation  of  the  Old 
Testament  into  Greek  was  made,  beginning  probably 
with  the  Pentateuch,  about  the  time  of  Philadelphus, 
and  completed  in  later  years,  by  different  hands. 
This  Greek  version  came  to  be  known  as  the  "Septua- 
gint"  (Latin,  Septuaginta)  commonly  written  LXX, 
and  is  referred  to  in  ancient  Greek  manuscripts  as  the 
version  "according  to  the  Seventy."  Jerome,  whose 
name  is  associated  with  the  Latin  version  of  the  Bible, 
doubts  the  story  of  the  cells  and  says: — ^  "Nescio  quis 
primus  auctor  LXX  cellulas  Alexandriae  mendacio  suo 
exstruxerit,  etc." 

In  Book  II  of  his  Apology  for  Himself  against  the 
books  of  Rufinus,  402  a.  d.,^  Jerome  mentions  the 
important  differences  in  text  between  different  Greek 
versions  of  the  Old  Testament  and  differences  between 
the  Greek  versions  and  the  Hebrew  text.  We  are  con- 
cerned with  the  Septuagint,  in  this  volume,  only  so  far 
as  it  contributes  one  of  the  early  sources  of  our  text  of 
the  Old  Testament,  for  the  most  ancient  texts  of  it 
that  we  possess  are  in  Greek.  The  Old  Testament  of 
the  early  Christian  Church  was  in  Greek,  not  in  Hebrew, 

*  In  the  Preface  to  Genesis. 

^Nicene  and  Post  Nicene  Fathers,  New  York,  1892,  Vol.  Ill,  pp.  516-17. 


12  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

and  quotations  in  the  New  Testament  are  from  the 
Greek  version. 

Of  Greek  manuscripts  the  most  important  are: — 

The  Codex  Vaticanus,  brought  to  Rome  in  1448  and 
believed  to  have  been  copied  in  Egypt  in  the  fourth 
century. 

The  Codex  Sinaiticus,  of  the  fourth  century,  found  in 
1 844-1 859  in  the  Convent  of  St.  Catherine  on  Mount 
Sinai,  and  now  in  the  Imperial  Library  in  Petrograd. 

The  Codex  Alexandrinus  sent  in  1628  by  the  Patriarch 
of  Constantinople  to  Charles  I  as  a  gift.  It  was  prob- 
ably made  at  Alexandria  in  the  fifth  century  and  since 
1753  has  been  in  the  British  Museum. 

Each  of  these  three  contains  almost  the  whole  Bible 
and  Apocrypha. 

The  Ephraem  manuscript,  now  in  the  National  Li- 
brary in  Paris,  belongs  also  probably  to  the  fifth  century. 
It  is  a  bundle  of  fragments  representing  about  three- 
fifths  of  the  original  manuscript. 

The  Manuscript  of  Beza,  so  called  because  once 
owned  by  that  scholar,  was  presented  by  him  to  the 
University  of  Cambridge  in  158 1.  It  is  generally  re- 
ferred to  the  sixth  century.  It  contains  the  Gospels 
and  Acts  and  is  remarkable  as  being  the  earliest  to 
contain  John  7:53-8:11. 

These  manuscripts  and  the  hundreds  of  others,  of 
different  dates,  and  of  a  more  or  less  fragmentary  char- 
acter, are  the  oldest  versions  we  have  of  any  parts  of 
the  Bible  either  Old  Testament  or  New.  The  discovery 
of  additional  manuscripts  often  throws  light  on  the 
text,  and  it  will  be  noticed  that  most  important  man- 
uscripts have  come  to  our  knowledge  since  the  comple- 
tion of  the  King  James  Version  in  1611.  In  addition 
to  the  Hebrew  and  Greek  sources  of  the  text  of  the 


THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  1 3 

Bible,  we  have  also  manuscripts,  of  various  ages,  of  a 
fifth  century  Armenian  translation  of  the  whole  Bible, 
fragments  of  a  Gothic  version  made  by  Wulfilas  in  the 
fourth  century,  of  several  different  Egyptian  (Coptic) 
versions  of  parts  of  the  Bible,  of  an  Ethiopic  version 
and  of  a  Syriac  version.  All  of  these,  as  well  as  early 
quotations  from  the  Bible,  are  important  as  indicating 
what  the  contents  and  text  were  regarded  as  being, 
for  the  manuscripts  differ  in  text,  and  do  not  all  contain 
the  same  books.  There  are  important  differences, 
the  Syriac  Peshitto  version,  for  example,  omitting  the 
Apocrypha  entirely.  The  name  Apocrypha  meaning 
"hidden"  or  "secret,"  had  been  applied  to  the  books  of 
certain  sects.  It  was  used  by  Jerome  of  a  number  of 
books  which  had  been  included  in  the  Greek  version. 
Of  these,  some  were  originally  in  Greek,  while  others 
were  a  Greek  translation  of  Hebrew  or  Aramaic  writings. 
The  original  Hebrew  of  the  Wisdom  of  Jesus  Son  of 
Sirach  was  found  in  a  Cairo  manuscript  now  in  the  Cam- 
bridge University  Library.  None  of  the  books  of  the 
Apocrypha  was  ever  included  by  the  Jews  among  their 
Scriptures. 

THE    LATIN   VERSIONS 

Just  as  the  conquests  of  Alexander  and  the  spread  of 
Greek  language  and  learning  throughout  the  East  re- 
sulted in  a  Greek  version  of  the  Old  Testament,  so  the 
Roman  conquests  spread  the  Latin  language,  and  of 
course  a  Latin  version  of  both  Old  Testament  and 
New  was  inevitable.  Christianity  spread  through  the 
preaching  of  the  Apostles,  and  this  fact  made  even  more 
important  the  Greek  versions,  and  made  necessary  the 
Latin. 

The    oldest    Latin    version,    which    was    known    to 


14  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Augustine,  Jerome,  and  others 
of  the  Fathers,  was  probably  made  in  the  second 
century  from  the  Septuagint,  and  there  appear  to  have 
been  different  varieties  of  the  text.  Augustine  com- 
mends the  Itala,  and  there  were  also  an  African  and 
some  European  versions.  The  oldest  form  of  the  Latin 
version  is  in  the  opinion  of  critics  the  African.  Por- 
tions of  the  Old  Latin  versions  are  still  in  existence  in 
about  forty  manuscripts.  It  was  the  lack  of  uniformity 
in  the  early  Latin  versions  that  led  Damasus,  Bishop 
of  Rome,  to  commission  Jerome,  a  Dalmatian,  to  pre- 
pare a  Latin  translation  of  the  Psalms  and  Gospels. 
He  finished  this  work  and  the  New  Testament  on  the 
basis  of  Greek  texts.  A  short  time  later  Jerome  revised 
his  Psalter  on  the  basis  of  Origen's  work.  Origen  (184- 
254  A.  D.)  endeavored  to  produce  an  accurate  Greek 
text  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  edited  a  Tetrapla,  or 
four-text,  and  later  a  Hexapla,  or  six-text  work,  of 
which  all  that  remains  are  fragments  quoted  in  the 
Church  Fathers,  and  a  fragment  of  some  of  the  Psalms, 
the  latter  found  in  the  Ambrosian  Library  in  1896. 
In  the  same  library  were  found  also,  in  1874,  a  copy  of 
a  Syriac  translation  of  the  Septuagint  text  of  the 
Hexapla  made  in  616  A.  d.  Origen  arranged  in  col- 
umns, I,  the  Hebrew  text,  2,  the  Hebrew  text  in 
Greek  characters,  3,  4,  and  5,  versions  of  Aquila,  Sym- 
machus,  and  Theodotion,  6,  a  revised  Septuagint 
text.  Origen  worked  on  the  New  Testament  as  well, 
endeavoring  to  fix  a  canon.  He  and  Jerome  were  the 
two  great  textual  critics  of  the  early  Church. 

Jerome  was  not  content  to  translate  from  Greek,  but 
went  to  live  at  Bethlehem,  where,  for  fifteen  years 
(390-405  A.  D.),  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of 
Hebrew,  and  the  translation  of  the  Old  Testament  from 


THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  1 5 

Hebrew  into  Latin.  At  the  request  of  several  bishops, 
he  translated  also  the  books  of  Judith  and  Tobit,  which 
a  friend  of  his  translated  from  Aramaic  into  Hebrew 
for  him.  He  then  translated  the  Hebrew  version, 
though  he  regarded  as  canonical  only  the  ancient 
Hebrew  books.  The  oldest  Latin  versions  were  made 
from  the  Greek  and  included  the  Apocrypha,  books 
rejected  by  the  Jews,  but  received,  with  differences  of 
opinion,  by  the  Church.  Their  inclusion  was,  against 
the  opinion  of  Jerome,  and  owing  to  the  influence  of 
Augustine,  decided  upon  by  the  Synods  of  Hippo  393 
A.  D.  and  Carthage  397  a.  d. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  in  Latin  Bibles  until 
1566  the  Old  Latin  translation  of  the  Psalms  revised 
by  Jerome  and  known  as  the  Roman  Psalter  was  re- 
tained, the  second  revision  of  Jerome,  known  as  the 
Galilean  Psalter,  replacing  it  in  that  year.  Jerome's 
third  and  later  translation  directly  from  Hebrew 
never  came  into  general  use.  This  retention  of  an  older 
version  of  the  Psalms  is  similar  to  the  continued  use 
of  the  Bishops'  version  to-day  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer. 

The  Council  of  Trent,  at  its  fourth  session  1546, 
decreed  that  the  Vulgate,  Jerome's  Latin  version,  was 
the  Authentic  Bible  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church. 
This  contains  the  books  of  the  Apocrypha  (except  the 
Prayer  of  Manasses  and  I  andll  Esdras),  among  the 
other  books.  The  books  of  the  Apocrypha,  included  In 
the  Vulgate,  and  therefore  in  the  Rheims-Douay  Ver- 
sion, are  sometimes  distinguished  from  the  canonical 
Hebrew  Scriptures  by  the  title  "deutero-canonlcal"  ^ 

^  The  same  term  has  been  applied  to  certain  New  Testament  books  which 
were  accepted  as  canonical  only  after  long  discussion,  hence  another  title 
"Antilegomena,"  by  which  they  were  known.  The  books  are  Hebrews, 
James,  Jude,  II  Peter,  II  and  III  John  and  Revelation. 


l6  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

meaning  that  they  are  a  supplement  to  the  Hebrew 
canon.  Protestant  opinion  concerning  the  Apocrypha 
ranges  from  the  rejection  of  it  as  uninspired  and  the 
consequent  exclusion  of  it  from  the  Bible,  to  the  view 
expressed  in  Article  of  Religion  VI  of  the  Church  of 
England,  which  is  as  follows: — 

"And  the  other  books  (as  Hierome  saith)  the  Church  doth 
read  for  example  of  life  and  instruction  of  manners;  but  yet 
doth  it  not  apply  them  to  establish  any  doctrine;  such  are 
these  following:  The  Third,  [First]  Book  of  EsdraSy  The  Fourth 
[Second]  Book  of  Esdras,  The  Book  of  Tobias,  The  Book  of 
Judith,  The  rest  of  the  Book  of  Esther,  The  Book  of  Wisdom, 
Jesus  the  Son  of  Sirach,  Baruch  the  Prophet,  The  Song  of  the 
Three  Children,  The  Story  of  Susanna,  Of  Bel  and  the  Dragon, 
The  Prayer  of  Manasses,  The  First  Book  of  Maccabees,  The 
Second  Book  of  Maccabees" 

In  the  Larger  Catechism  of  the  Russian  Greek 
Church,  1839,  the  Apocrypha  is  not  included  among 
canonical  books,  because  "they  do  not  exist  in  Hebrew." 

After  the  Reformation,  Protestants  did  not  regard 
these  books  as  inspired,  but  did  regard  them  as  val- 
uable for  their  teachings,  and  they  were  therefore 
commonly  printed  in  Protestant  English  versions,  fol- 
lowing the  example  of  Luther's  version  1534  in  a 
collection  by  themselves,  between  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New,  but  for  many  years  they  have  usually 
not  been  printed  in  English  Protestant  versions.  The 
omission  of  the  Apocrypha  dates  from  1826  and  is  the 
result  of  a  controversy  in  the  British  and  Foreign  Bible 
Society,  some  members  of  which  objected  to  circulating 
with  the  canonical  books  others  which  were  not  regarded 
as  inspired.^     We  find,  therefore,  a  difference,  as  to 

*  See  The  Book  and  Its  Story,  on  the  occasion  of  the  Jubilee  of  the  British 
and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  1854,  p.  319. 


THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  If 

books  and  parts  of  books,  between  the  Vulgate,  and 
translations  of  it,  used  by  Roman  Catholics,  and  the 
Bible  as  commonly  accepted  by  Protestants.  The 
oldest  Christian  list  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament 
is  that  of  Melito,  Bishop  of  Sardis  170  a.  d.,  which 
omits  the  Apocrypha  and  also  Esther. 

There  were,  of  course,  many  versions  and  variants 
of  the  Latin  Bible,  and  it  became  necessary  for  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  to  fix  upon  a  text  that  should 
be  standard.  A  particular  edition  of  the  Vulgate  was 
designated  and,  after  that  of  Pope  Sixtus  V,  1590,  had 
been  found  unsatisfactory,  one  issued  by  Clement  VIII 
was,  by  Papal  Bull  of  1592,  declared  to  be  Authentic. 
No  word  of  it  is  permitted  to  be  altered.  The  action 
of  the  Council  of  Trent  in  1546  in  regard  to  the  Vulgate, 
was  reaffirmed  by  the  Ecumenical  Council  of  the 
Vatican  in  1870.  In  the  spring  of  1907  announcement 
was  made  that  Pius  X  had  determined  upon  a  critical 
revision  of  the  Latin  Bible.  This  work  is  being  done 
by  a  Commission  under  the  leadership  of  Father  Gas- 
quet,  who  are  at  work  studying  and  collating  man- 
uscripts for  the  purpose  of  creating  a  text  that  shall 
be  superior  to  that  of  the  Clementine  edition  of  1592.^ 

With  regard  to  the  canon  of  The  New  Testament 
there  is  no  difference  between  the  versions.  Here  there 
was  no  collection  of  ancient  writings  to  be  adopted, 
whole,  or  with  exceptions  or  additions,  by  the  early 
Christian  Church.  By  a  gradual  process  of  acceptance 
and  approval  the  New  Testament  came  into  existence 
as  the  authoritative  fundamental  book  of  Christianity. 
Of  the  twenty-seven  books,  which  It  contains,  a  few 
were  accepted  finally  only  after  long  discussion.  Books, 
which  for  a  time  were   read  in  churches,  but  which 

*  See  the  article  "Vulgate,  the  Revision  of,"  in  The  Catholic  Encyclopedia. 


l8  A    BOOK   ABOUT    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

were  never  regarded  as  inspired,  were  the  Clementine 
Epistles,  the  Epistle  of  Barnabas,  and  the  Shepherd 
of  Hermas.  There  exist  also  other  books  such  as  the 
Apocalypse  of  Peter,  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans,  Acts 
of  Paul,  and  many  so-called  Gospels. 

Of  the  various  early  lists  of  writings  permitted  to  be 
read  in  churches  that  of  Athanasius  d.  373  is  the 
earliest  to  include  the  present  twenty-seven  books  of 
the  New  Testament.  In  his  Easter  Pastoral  Letter  in 
365  A.  D.,  Athanasius  gave  a  complete  list  of  the  Old 
Testament  books,  placing  the  Apocrypha  in  a  separate 
classification,  and  naming  the  books  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament as  we  have  it.  Other  early  lists  vary  in  regard 
to  Hebrews,  James,  Jude,  II  Peter,  II  and  III  John, 
and  Revelation,  which  have  been  mentioned^  as  the 
"Antilegomena,"  or  books  "spoken  against." 

The  Hebrew  Scriptures,  the  Greek  and  Latin  ver- 
sions of  them,  the  New  Testament  in  Greek,  and  in 
Latin,  these  underlie  the  English  versions  of  the  Bible, 
which  differ  in  contents,  or  in  arrangement  of  contents, 
according  to  the  texts  from  which  they  have  been  de- 
rived. 

The  order  of  the  books  of  the  Old  Testament  in 
English  versions,  except  the  Jewish,  which  retains  the 
ancient  Hebrew  groupings,  is  due  to  the  Greek  and 
Latin  translations,  as  are  also  the  names  of  the  books. 
In  the  following  lists  the  contents  of  the  Revised  Ver- 
sion which  represents  the  Protestant  view  of  the  Old 
Testament  canon,  are  placed  parallel  to  the  contents 
of  the  Rheims-Douay  Version,  which,  following  the 
Vulgate,  represents  the  canon  as  accepted  by  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church.  So  long  as  the  books  were 
on  separate  rolls  of  parchment  the  order  was  unim- 
*  Above,  p.  15,  note. 


THE    SOURCES    OF    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 


19 


portant,  except  in  the  contents  of  each  roll.  When  the 
books  were  put  into  a  volume  the  order  became  nec- 
essarily fixed. 

It  must  always  be  remembered  that  the  Bible  as 
known  and  read  in  Western  Europe  until  the  time  of 
the  Reformation  was  the  Vulgate,  or  Jerome's  Latin 
version.  It  was  from  the  Vulgate,  Exodus  34:29,  for 
example,  that  Michelangelo  derived  his  authority  for 
placing  horns  on  the  head  of  his  statue  of  Moses.  The 
Vulgate  was  back  of  the  literature  and  art  of  Western 
Europe  from  the  time  that  Christianity  became  the  pre- 
vailing religion. 


CONTENTS  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 


Revised  Version 

Rheims-Douay  Version 

Genesis. 

Genesis. 

Exodus. 

Exodus. 

Leviticus. 

Leviticus. 

Numbers. 

Numbers. 

Deuteronomy. 

Deuteronomy. 

Joshua. 

Josue. 

fcfr 

Judges. 

Ruth. 

I  Samuel. 

I  Kings. 

II  Samuel. 

II  Kings. 

I  Kings. 

Ill  Kings. 

II  Kings. 

IV  Kings. 

I  Chronicles. 

I  Paralipomenon. 

II  Chronicles. 

II  Paralipomenon. 

Ezra. 

I  Esdras. 

Nehemiah. 

II  Esdras,  alias  Nehemias. 

Tobias. 

Judith. 

Esther    (including    additional 

Esther. 

ters). 

Job. 
Psalms. 

Job. 

Psalms. 

Prorerbs. 

Proverbs. 

jEcdesiastes. 

Ecclesiastes. 

[Song  of  Solomon. 

Canticle  of  Canticles. 

' 

Wisdom. 

Ecclesiasticus. 

Isaiah. 

Isaias. 

Jeremiah. 

Jeremias. 

chap- 


20 


A    BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 


Revised  Version 

Rfuims-Douay  Version 

Lamentations. 

Lamentations. 
Baruch. 

Ezekiel. 

Ezechiel. 

Daniel. 

Daniel,   (including  The 

Song  of  the 

Three  Holy  Children, 

,  Th 

e  History 

of    Susanna    and,     Bel 

and 

the 

Dragon). 

Hosea. 

Osee. 

Joel. 

Joel. 

Amos. 

Amos. 

Obadiah. 

Abdias. 

Jonah. 

Jonas. 
Micheas. 

Micah. 

Nahum. 

Nahum. 

Habakkuk. 

Habacuc. 

' 

Zephaniah. 

Sophonias. 

Haggai. 

Aggeus. 

Zechariah. 

Zacharias. 

Malachi. 

Malachias. 

I  Machabees. 

II  Machabees. 

The  Apocrypha^  non-canonical. 

I  Esdras,  (commonly  called  III  Es- 

dras). 

II   Esdras,    (commonly   called 

IV 

Esdras). 

Tobit. 

Judith. 

Esther,    (additional    chapters. 

the 

Septuagint  adding  ten  verses, 

and 

the  Vulgate  six  chapters). 

Wisdom  of  Solomon. 

Wisdom  of  Jesus,  the  Son  of  Sirach, 

(Ecdesiasticus). 

Baruch. 

Song  of  the  three  Holy  Children, 

(addition  to  Daniel). 

History  of  Susanna,  (addition 

to 

L/aniei^ 
Bel  and  the  Dragon,  (addition  to 

Daniel). 

Prayer  of  Manasses. 
I  Nlaccabees. 

II  Maccabees. 

The  Rheims-Douay  version  differs  In  the  names  of 
some  books.    Nehemiah  is  called  II  Esdras,  Ezra  being 


THE    SOURCES    OF   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE  21 

called  I  Esdras,  as  was  formerly  done  in  all  Bibles. 
I  and  II  Samuel,  and  I  and  II  Kings  are  I,  II,  III  and 
IV  Kings,  while  Chronicles  appears  as  Paralipomenon, 
from  the  Septuagint  title. 

In  the  New  Testament  we  have  quotations  from 
thirty  books  of  the  Hebrew  canon,  but  no  quotation, 
as  such,  from  any  of  the  books  of  the  Apocrypha,  al- 
though there  are  many  passages,  which  will  be  dis- 
cussed in  another  connection,  which  indicate  that  the 
New  Testament  writers  were  familiar  with  some  of 
the    books   of   the   Apocrypha    and    Pseudepigrapha.^ 

*  The  Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  of  the  Old  Testament  in  English^ 
•edited  by  R.  H.  Charles,  Cambridge,  1913,  is  the  first  complete  English 
edition  of  the  non-canonical  Jewish  literature  of  the  period  extending  from 
about  200  B.  C.  to  100  A.  D.  Under  the  title  The  Apocryphal  New  Testament^ 
the  non-canonical  books  of  the  early  Christian  centuries  have  been  reprinted 
(1906)  from  an  edition  of  1820,  printed  in  London  for  William  Hone. 


CHAPTER  II 

THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  OLD  TESTAMENT 

Back  of  the  Old  Testament  was  an  extensive  liter- 
ature, the  product  of  high  culture. 

The  Old  Testament  historical  writings  cover,  in  de- 
tail at  some  places,  and  in  broad  outline  at  others,  the 
history  of  Jehovah's  dealings  with  the  descendants 
of  Abraham,  at  first  as  the  patriarchs,  then  as  the 
tribes,  and  later  as  the  kingdoms  of  Israel  and  Judah. 
K^reation,  the  Fall,  the  Flood,  the  Dispersion,  the  build- 
ing of  cities,  the  confusion  of  tongues — these  occupy 
the  first  eleven  chapters  of  Genesis.  The  twelfth 
chapter  records  the  call  of  Abraham,  an  event  which 
occurred  about  twenty-two  centuries  before  the  Chris- 
tian era.  In  addition  to  history,  are  the  laws  governing 
the  religious  ceremonies  and  social  organization  of  the 
Jews,  and  there  are  also  examples  of  various  kinds  of 
poetry,  of  wisdom  literature,  of  stories  of  remarkable 
people  and  events,  and  the  utterances  of  the  prophets 
with  their  messages  directly  from  Jehovah  himself. 

Probably  the  most  interesting  and  important  result 
of  the  work  of  the  archaeologists  in  their  researches  in 
the  Orient  has  been  in  the  reconstruction  of  much  of  the 
background  of  the  Old  Testament  writings.  The  gen- 
eral reader  no  longer  regards  the  ancient  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures as  shrouded  in  mystery  as  to  their  sources,  and 
as  representing  ages  in  which  the  life  of  man  was  lived 
in  a  manner  unlike  that  of  any  other  time.  The  Tell  el 
Amarna  tablets,  discovered  in   1887,  some  of  which 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT         23 

contain  correspondence  between  Egypt  and  Palestine 
of  about  the  time  of  Moses,  indirectly  throw  light  on 
the  story  of  Joseph,  for  example,  by  indicating  that 
close  relations  existed  between  the  two  countries,  in- 
volving, probably,  frequent  communication  by  means 
of  just  such  commercial  caravans  as  that  which  passed 
along  the  ancient  road  and  purchased  Joseph  as  a 
slave  from  his  conspiring  brothers.  The  Code  of 
Hammurabi,  discovered  in  1901  on  a  stone  column  at 
Susa,  throws  a  flood  of  light  on  the  Law  of  Moses 
as  given  in  the  Pentateuch.  Hammurabi  has  been 
identified  with  Amraphel,  King  of  Shinar,  Genesis, 
14:1,  thus  making  him  contemporary  with  Abraham. 
As  Professor  Driver  says: — "The  civilization,  including 
the  history,  the  institutions,  the  art,  and  the  society ; 
of  ancient  Babylonia  and  Assyria,  is  now  known  to  us 
in  many  respects  more  completely  than  that  of  ancient 
Egypt.  Mr.  Leonard  King's  Letters  and  Inscriptions 
of  Hammurabi,  King  of  Babylon  in  the  twenty-second 
century  b.  c,  contains  almost  as  vivid  a  picture  of  life 
and  character  as  do  the  Life  and  Letters  of  some  states- 
man or  prelate  deceased  among  ourselves  a  few  years 
ago."i 

The  Code,  elaborate  in  its  details,  which  specify 
off"enses  and  punishments,  resembles  in  many  ways 
the  contents  of  Leviticus  and  shows  that  the  Law  of 
Moses  was  for  the  Jews  a  Code  such  as  other  peoples 
possessed  in  even  earlier  times.  Inscriptions  have 
been  found  containing  records  of  Kings  mentioned  in 
Genesis,  ch.  14,  once  pronounced,  by  some  confident 
critics,  mere  "etymological  inventions  -  of  imaginary 
characters,"  and  it  has  been  proved  by  these  Independ- 

*  S.  R.  Driver,  Modern  Research  as  Illustrating  the  Bible,  The  Sweich 
Lectures,  1908,  London,  1909,  p.  7. 


24  A   BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BI3LE 

ent  sources  of  information  that  the  story  of  the  Elam- 
itic  invasion,  told  in  Genesis,  is  not  myth  but  veritable 
history.^ 

Concerning  the  relation  of  archaeology  to  the  Bible, 
in  matters  about  which  there  has  been  discussion  by 
the  critics,  we  may  repeat  here  what  Professor  Driver 
says: — ^"The  fact  is,  while  archaeology  has  frequently 
corroborated  Biblical  statements,  of  the  truth  of  which 
critics  never  doubted,  such  as  Shishak's  invasion  of 
Judah,  the  existence  of  such  Kings  as  Omri,  Ahab, 
Jehu  and  Sargon,  and  Sennacherib's  invasion  of  Judah, 
it  has  overthrown  no  conclusion,  at  variance  with 
tradition,  which  has  met  with  the  general  acceptance 
of  critics."  ^ 

Archaeological  discoveries  have  brought  to  us  a 
considerable  amount  of  literature  similar  in  contents 
and  form  to  parts  of  the  Old  Testament  and  revealing 
to  us  much  concerning  the  life  and  thoughts  of  men 
in  the  ancient  world.  In  Professor  Petrie's  Egyptian 
Tales  are  many  old  stories,  one  of  which.  The  Tale 
of  the  Two  Brothers,  is  similar  in  several  ways  to  the 
story  of  Joseph  and  Potiphar's  wife.^    Genesis,  ch.  39. 

A  tablet  in  ancient  Sumerian,  now  in  the  Yale  Univer- 
sity collection  and  translated  by  Dr.  A.  T.  Clay,  throws 
light  on  the  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son.  The  tablet 
contains  the  oldest  laws  known,  antedating  by  hundreds 
of  years  even  the  Code  of  Hammurabi.  The  laws  of 
inheritance  were  of  great  importance,  as  we  know  from 
the  Old  Testament,  Numbers  27:1-11,  36:1-10,  and 
are  given  at  length  in  the  Code  of  Hammurabi.    This 

*  G.  A,  Barton,  Archaology  and  the  Bible,  Philadelphia,  1916,  is  a  re- 
liable source  of  information  on  this  and  similar  subjects. 

*  S.  R.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  New 
York,  19 14,  preface,  p.  xxi. 

»  Flinders  Petrie,  Egyptian  Tales,  Second  Series,  LondoHi  1895,  PP*  S^^* 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT         2^ 

older  Sumerlan  Code  shows,  as  Dr.  Clay  says,  that  the 
parable  has  a  legal  aspect  not  "surmised  by  the  com- 
mentarians."    The  law  concerning  inheritance  reads: — 

"If  a  son  say  unto  his  father  and  his  mother,  [thou  art] 
not  my  father,  not  my  mother;  from  the  house,  field,  planta- 
tion, servants,  property,  animals  he  shall  go  forth,  and  his 
portion  to  its  full  amount  he  [the  father]  shall  give  him.  His 
father  and  his  mother  shall  say  to  him  *not  our  son.'  From 
the  neighborhood  of  the  house  he  shall  go." 

The  Prodigal  Son  received  his  share,  and  then  went 
to  a  far  country,  in  accordance  with  the  law,  and  not 
as  the  result  of  an  importunate  demand  on  an  indulgent 
father.  "It  heightens  the  contrast  between  the  father, 
who,  on  the  one  hand,  complied  with  what  the  law 
permitted  the  son  to  demand;  and,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  forgiving  father,  who  rejoiced  over  his  return,  not 
as  a  legal  heir,  but  as  a  son."  ^  Another  ancient  in- 
scription on  clay,  in  the  Yale  collection,  which  dates 
earlier  than  2000  b.  c,  is  a  dialogue,  the  earliest 
example  known,  between  a  father  and  his  son.  Tab- 
lets concerning  dreams  and  their  interpretations  have 
also  been  found,  which  are  of  great  interest  in  connec- 
tion with  the  many  dreams  of  which  the  Bible  con- 
tains accounts. 

The  Babylonian  epic  of  Creation  has  been  known 
since  1872,  when  George  Smith  of  the  British  Museum 
deciphered  tablets  telling  of  the  Flood,  and  it  is  easily 
accessible  in  translated  form.^  Since  then  a  num- 
ber of  additional  inscriptions  containing  Creation 
and  Eden  stories  have  rewarded  the  work  of  the 
archaeologists.     The   excavations  of  the  University  of 

1  A.  T.  Clay,  Yale  Alumni  Weekly,  May  7,  191 5. 
*G.  A.  Barton,  Archaology  and  the  Bible,  p.  235  etc. 


26  A   BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Pennsylvania  on  the  site  of  Nippur  brought  to 
light  many  tablets,  on  some  of  which  are  accounts  of 
Creation,  Paradise  and  the  Deluge,  which  have  been 
published,  the  most  recently  deciphered  inscription 
being  presented  by  Dr.  Barton,  who  says  of  it,  and  of 
the  other  tablets  found  at  Nippur: — "This  tablet, 
together  with  those  discovered  by  Poebel  and  Lang- 
don  .  .  .  proves  that  at  Nippur  there  existed  in  the 
third  millennium  b.  c.  a  cycle  of  creation  myths. "^ 

These,  and  many  more  things  which  help  us  to  under- 
stand the  Bible,  have  become  known  from  the  dis- 
covery and  reading  of  inscriptions,  which  have  been 
preserved  in  clay  and  stone  for  thousands  of  years,  and 
which  antedate,  not  only  any  existing  copies  of  the 
Biblical  writings,  but  antedate  also  by  many  centuries 
the  most  ancient  of  those  writings.  The  Babylonian 
narratives  of  Creation,  and  the  Flood  are  older  than 
the  Hebrew,  and  show  the  existence  of  those  stories  in 
literary  form  in  the  East,  probably  before  any  such 
book  as  Genesis  ever  contained  the  record  of  them. 
There  is  also  a  Babylonian  story  ^  similar  to  that  of  Job. 

From  many  examples  of  ancient  literature,  preserved 
on  the  tablets  dug  in  recent  years  from  the  ruins  of 
ancient  cities,  in  the  plains  of  Babylonia,  and  elsewhere, 
we  know  that,  long  before  the  time  of  Abraham,  the 
world  had  reached  a  high  state  of  development  in  all 
that  concerned  the  organization  and  government  of- 
society,  and  that  the  human  soul  was  finding  expression 
in  art  and  literature.    Not  rude,  barbarous,  uncivilized 

*  "Material  concerning  Creation  and  Paradise,"  The  American  Journal 
of  Tkfolon,  October,  1917,  p.  595. 

'  This  Babylonian  poem  may  be  found  in  G.  A.  Barton's  Archaolo^y  and 
the  Bible,  pp.  392-297,  and  is  discussed  at  length  by  Professor  Morns  Jas- 
trow  in  the  Journal  of  Biblical  Literature^  vol.  25,  pp.  135-191,  **A  Babylo- 
nian Parallel  to  the  Story  of  Job." 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT  2/ 

and  undeveloped  were  the  people  from  whom  came  the 
Old  Testament  writings,  and  this  is  shown  clearly,  not 
only  by  the  remains  of  Babylonia  and  Egypt,  whether 
in  inscriptions,  in  examples  of  sculpture  and  design,  in 
magnificent  structures  like  the  Pyramids  or  Sphinx, 
or  superb  ruins  like  the  temples  of  Egypt  and  the 
palaces  of  the  Pharaohs,  but  it  is  shown  also  by  what 
the  Old  Testament  writings  tell  us  concerning  them- 
selves. 

The  form  in  which  we  have  these  ancient  Hebrew 
books  is  almost  certainly,  in  many  cases,  not  that  in 
which  they  first  appeared  in  writing,  for  they  have  come 
to  us  through  the  work  of  many  editors  and  copyists 
in  the  intervening  centuries.  We  may  not  be  certain 
that  they  are  contemporary  accounts  of  the  events  of 
which  they  tell,  but  we  do  know  that  what  we  have 
has  been  preserved  by  the  reverent  efforts  of  men  who 
regarded  these  writings  as  inspired  by  God,  and  there- 
fore holy  and  authoritative,  and  as  containing  the 
history  of  God's  dealings  with  his  chosen  people,  and 
the  utterances  of  great  men,  through  whom  the  word 
of  God  was  communicated.  That  the  past  should 
never  be  forgotten  and  that  the  history  of  Israel  and 
its  prophets  should  be  preserved,  is  the  meaning  of 
the  words: — 

"We  have  heard  and  known,  and  our  fathers  have  told  us. 
We  will  not  hide  them  from  their  children,  telling  to  the 
generation  to  come  the  praises  of  Jehovah,  and  his  strength, 
and  his  wondrous  works  that  he  hath  done."    Psalm  78:3,  4. 

That  special  care  was  taken  to  preserve  writings  is 
shown  in  Exodus  17:14,  where  Jehovah  tells  Moses  to 
"write  this  for  a  memorial  in  a  book,  and  rehearse  it  in 
the  ears  of  Joshua";  and  in: — 


28  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Take  thee  again  another  roll,  and  write  in  it  all  the  former 
words  that  were  in  the  first  roll,  which  Jehoiakim,  the  king 
of  Judah  hath  burned."    Jeremiah  36:28. 

That  writings  were  collected  in  later  times  and  pro- 
tected against  loss  is  indicated  by  the  following  state- 
ment, in  which  what  was  evidently  a  literary  commis- 
sion of  King  Hezekiah  is  mentioned  in  connection  with 
a  supplementary  collection  of  proverbs: — 

"These  also  are  proverbs  of  Solomon,  which  the  men  of 
Hezekiah  king  of  Judah  copied  out."    Proverbs  25:1. 

Added  to  this  collection  are  Proverbs  ch.  30,  The 
Words  of  Agur  and  ch.  31,  The  Words  of  King  Lemuel. 
This  note  about  Hezekiah,  who  was  himself  a  poet  (see 
Isaiah  38:9),  is  of  great  interest  because  of  what  it  sug- 
gests concerning  a  library  at  Jerusalem  and  a  trained 
group  of  copyists  such  as  were  the  scribes  in  Nineveh. 
Professor  Sayce  thinks  that  there  must  have  been  a 
royal  library  at  Jerusalem  in  the  time  of  Hezekiah,  and 
says : — 

"The  vassalage  of  Judah  to  the  king  of  Assyria  in  the 
reign  of  Ahaz  had  necessarily  led  to  the  introduction  of 
Assyrian  culture  into  Jerusalem.  Ahaz  himself  had  led  the 
way.  In  the  court  of  the  palace  he  had  erected  a  sundial,  a 
copy  of  the  gnomons,  which  had  been  used  for  centuries  in 
the  civilized  kingdoms  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris.  But 
the  erection  of  the  sundial  was  not  the  only  sign  of  Assyrian 
influence.  The  most  striking  feature  of  Assyrian  and  Baby- 
lonian culture  was  the  libraries,  where  scribes  were  kept 
constantly  employed,  not  only  in  writing  and  compiling  new 
books,  but  in  copying  and  reediting  older  ones.  The  *men  of 
Hezekiah*  who  *  copied  out*  the  proverbs  of  Solomon  per- 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT         29 

formed  duties  exactly  similar  to  the  royal  scribes  in  Nin- 
eveh." ' 

Hezekiah  is  credited  with  having  done  much  to  re- 
store and  preserve  the  customs  of  the  past.  We  are 
told,  II  Kings,  chs.  18-20,  and  II  Chronicles,  chs. 
29-32,  that  he  destroyed  the  brazen  serpent,  which 
Moses  had  made,  and  which  the  people  worshipped, 
restored  the  laws  of  Moses,  the  services  of  the  Temple, 
the  observance  of  the  Passover,  and  "commanded  the 
Levites  to  sing  praises  unto  Jehovah  with  the  words 
of  David  and  Asaph  the  seer."  He  likewise  believed 
in  civic  improvements  and  "made  the  pool  and  the 
conduit  and  brought  water  into  the  city.''  II  Kings 
20:20.  We  see  in  these  references  evidence  that  litera- 
ture was  preserved,  i,  by  oral  transmission,  2,  by  care 
on  the  part  of  authors  and  scribes,  and  3,  by  special 
care  in  collecting  on  the  part  of  authorities  and  com- 
missions like  those  of  Hezekiah. 

We  now  come  to  what  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
facts  concerning  ancient  Hebrew  literature  and  that  is, 
that  what  we  know  as  the  Old  Testament,  which  is  com- 
posed of  the  three  sacred  collections  of  the  Jews,  the 
Law,  the  Prophets,  and  the  Writings,  is,  with  a  few 
exceptions,  all  that  has  come  down  to  us  of  what  we 
know,  indirectly,  from  the  literary  qualities  of  the  ex- 
tant books,  and  from  evident  quotations,  and  directly, 
from  the  names  of  other  books  referred  to  in  the  Old 
Testament,  must  have  been  a  highly  developed  and 
diversified  literature.  The  oldest  Hebrew  inscriptions 
found  are  those  on  the  Moabite  Stone,  found  in  1868, 
and  the  Siloam  inscription,  found  in  1880.  The  former 
is  now  in  the  Louvre  and  dates  from  the  time  of  Ahab, 

^  The  Higher  Criticism  and  the   Verdict  of  the  Monuments^  4th  edition, 
London,  1894,  pp.  475,  476. 


30  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

about  850  B.  c.  It  is  Mesha's  account  of  a  revolt  men- 
tioned in  II  Kings  3 14,  5.  The  inscription  which  is  quite 
long  contains  much  of  the  deepest  interest  to  students 
of  the  language  and  the  contents  of  the  Old  Testament. 
The  Siloam  inscription,  found  in  1880  on  the  wall  of 
a  tunnel  connecting  the  Pool  of  Siloam  with  the  Virgin's 
Well  at  Jerusalem,  is  now  in  the  Imperial  Ottoman 
Museum  at  Constantinople.  It  is  believed  to  date  from 
the  time  of  Hezekiah,  700  b.  c.  who  built  a  conduit. 
The  inscription  records  the  completing  of  such  a  con- 
duit drilled  through  the  rock.^ 

In  Numbers  21:27-30,  we  have  a  quotation  from  an 
old  collection  of  proverbs  that  had  been  preserved 
orally  or  in  writing.  Evident  quotations,  either  from 
oral  transmission  or  from  earlier  writings,  are  the  Song 
of  the  Sword,  Genesis  4:23,  24,  and  the  Song  of  the 
Well,  Numbers  21:17-18,  and  such  poetical  passages 
as  the  words  of  Isaac  to  Jacob,  Genesis,  27:  27-29, 
39-40.  It  is  probable  that  such  passages  as  the 
Blessing  of  Jacob,  Genesis,  ch.  49  and  the  Song  by  the 
Sea,  Exodus,  ch.  15,  the  Song  of  Deborah,  Judges, 
ch.  5,  and  others,  were  preserved  in  books  from  which 
the  writers  of  our  present  books  took  them.  That  was 
the  way  in  which  the  present  book  of  Psalms  was 
formed.  Poems  were  selected  from  earlier  collections 
in  which  they  had  been  preserved. 

Two  books,  which  were  themselves  collections  of 
writings,  are  mentioned  as  sources,  one  is  the  Book 
of  the  Wars  of  Jehovah,  quoted  in  Numbers  21:14, 
the  other  is  the  Book  of  Jasher  which  is  referred  to 
twice,  in  Joshua  10:13,  as  the  source  of  Joshua's  ad- 
dress to  the  sun  and  moon,  and  in  II  Samuel  1:18,  as 

*  These  inscriptions  in  full  are  to  be  found  in  Archaology  and  the  BibUy 
G.  A.  Barton,  pp.  363,  377. 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT         3 1 

the  source  of  the  Song  of  the  Bow,  or  David's 
Lament  over  Saul  and  Jonathan.  Except  for  these 
quotations,  the  two  collections  are  lost.  Existing  books 
to  which  the  title  Book  of  Jasher  is  given  are,  one 
of  them,  a  collection  of  legends  and  stories  based  on  the 
Old  Testament,  and  dating  from  the  I2th  century,  the 
other  an  i8th  century  forgery. 

That  there  was  a  collection  of  psalms  attributed  to 
Asaph  is  indicated  by  the  existence  in  Psalms  of  such 
poems,  evidently  taken  from  an  earlier  collection.  In 
I  Chronicles  16:7,  David  gives  thanks  unto  Jehovah, 
"by  the  hand  of  Asaph  and  his  brethren,"  but  the 
psalm  then  sung,  made  up  of  Psalms  105:1-15,  96:1-13, 
106:1,  and  106:47-48,  is  not  stated  to  have  been  by  him, 
the  passages  referred  to,  in  the  Psalter,  being  all  of 
them  anonymous.  There  were  doubtless  other  collec- 
tions of  poetry  in  which  were  preserved  the  poems, 
other  than  psalms,  of  which  a  considerable  number  are 
given  in  the  Old  Testament. 

In  I  Kings  4:29-34,  is  a  remarkable  passage  concern- 
ing Solomon  which  contains  references  to  what  we  must 
suppose  to  have  been  writings  on  a  variety  of  subjects. 
Except  for  such  as  may  be  contained  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, these  works  of  Solomon  have  been  lost.  The 
passage  is: — 

"And  God  gave  Solomon  wisdom  and  understanding  ex- 
ceeding much,  and  largeness  of  heart,  even  as  the  sand  that 
is  on  the  sea-shore.  And  Solomon's  wisdom  excelled  the 
wisdom  of  all  the  children  of  the  east,  and  all  the  wisdom  of 
Egypt.  For  he  was  wiser  than  all  men;  than  Ethan  the 
Ezrahite,  and  Heman,^  and  Calcol,  and  Darda,  the  sons  of 
Mahol:  and  his  fame  was  in  all  the  nations  round  about. 
And  he  spake  three  thousand  proverbs;  and  his  songs  were  a 

^  To  Ethan  Is  ascribed  Psalm  89  and  to  Heman  Psalm  88. 


32  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

thousand  and  five.  And  he  spake  of  trees,  from  the  cedar 
that  is  in  Lebanon  even  unto  the  hyssop  that  springeth  out 
of  the  wall :  he  spake  also  of  beasts,  and  of  birds,  and  of  creep- 
ing things,  and  of  fishes.  And  there  came  of  all  peoples  to 
hear  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  from  all  kings  of  the  earth, 
who  had  heard  of  his  wisdom.** 

Besides  these  general  statements  concerning  other 
literature  by  which  the  Old  Testament  writings  were 
surrounded  there  are  in  the  historical  books,  especially 
the  later  ones,  Chronicles,  references  by  title  to  books 
and  authors  from  which  information  has  been  drawn, 
or  to  which  the  reader  is  directed  for  a  fuller  account 
than  that  given.  Here  are  the  titles  of  some  books 
thus  mentioned: — 

I  Samuel  10:25,  ^  book  written  by  Samuel  telling  "the 
manner  of  the  Kingdom,**  perhaps  the  "book  of  Samuel  the 
seer**  (mentioned  in  I  Chronicles  29:29). 

I  Kings  II  :4i,  "the  book  of  the  acts  of  Solomon.** 

I  Kings  14:29,  "the  book  of  the  chronicles  of  the  kings 
of  Judah.**    (Often  referred  to  in  I  and  II  Chronicles.) 

II  Kings  15:15,  "the  book  of  the  chronicles  of  the  kings 
of  Israel.*'    (Often  referred  to  in  I  and  II  Chronicles.) 

I  Chronicles  5:17,  "genealogies  in  the  days  of  Jotham  King 
of  Judah,  and  in  the  days  of  Jeroboam,  king  of  Israel.** 
I  Chronicles  23 :27,  "the  last  words  [or  acts]  of  David.*' 
I  Chronicles  27:24,  "the  chronicles  of  king  David.** 

I  Chronicles  29:29,  "the  history  of  Samuel  the  seer;**  "the 
history  of  Nathan  the  prophet,**  "the  history  of  Gad  the 
seer.** 

II  Chronicles  9:29,  "the  history  of  Nathan  the  prophet," 
"the  prophecy  of  Ahijah,  the  Shilonite,**  "the  visions  of  Iddo 
the  seer.** 

II  Chronicles  12:15,  "the  histories  of  Shemaiah  the 
prophet**  and  of  "Iddo  the  seer  after  the  manner  of  geneal- 
ogies.** 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT         33 

II  Chronicles  13:22,  "the  commentary  [Midrash]  of  the 
prophet  Iddo." 

II  Chronicles  16:11,  "the  book  of  the  kings  of  Judah  and 
Israel." 

II  Chronicles  20:34,  "the  history  of  Jehu,  the  son  of 
Hanani,  which  is  inserted  in  the  book  of  the  kings  of  Israel." 

II  Chronicles  24:27,  "the  commentary  [Midrash]  of  the 
book  of  the  kings." 

II  Chronicles  26:22,  "the  acts  of  Uzziah,"  by  Isaiah  the 
prophet. 

II  Chronicles  32:32,  "the  vision  of  Isaiah  the  prophet — 
in  the  book  of  the  kings  of  Judah  and  Israel."  (Compare 
Isaiah  36-39,  with  II  Kings  18:13-20:21.) 

II  Chronicles  33:18,  19,  "the  acts  of  Manasseh  .  .  . 
among  the  acts  of  the  kings  of  Israel" — "his  prayer  .  .  . 
written  in  the  history  of  Hozai"  [or  the  seers].  The  Prayer 
of  Manasseh  is  preserved  in  the  Apocrypha. 

II  Chronicles  35:25,  "the  lamentatiohs."  (Not  the  book 
in  the  Bible  called  the  Lamentations  of  Jeremiah.) 

I  Maccabees  16:24,  "chronicles"  of  John  the  High  Priest. 

II  Maccabees  2:23,  "five  books"  of  Jason  of  Cyrene. 

The  term  "Midrash"  applied  to  the  book  of  Iddo, 
II  Chronicles  13:22,  and  to  the  book  of  Kings,  II 
Chronicles  24:27,  is  perhaps  better  translated  "story'* 
as  in  the  King  James  Version,  than  "commentary''  as 
in  the  Revised  Version.  Such  books  as  Tobit  and 
Judith  are  properly  "Midrashim,"  that  is,  stories  with 
emphasis  laid  on  the  didactic  or  moral  aspects  of  the 
various  incidents.  It  has  been  noted  by  critics  that 
the  moral  teaching  is  the  motive  of  most  of  the  stories 
told  in  Chronicles.^ 

Oral  transmission  played  an  important  part  in  keep- 
ing alive  in  the  minds  of  the  people  the  history  of  their 
past,  and  many  of  the  stories  contained  in  the  Bible 

1  Examples  may  be  found  in  II  Chronicles  21:10,  24:24,  26:5,  etc. 


34  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

circulated  among  the  peoples,  not  only  of  Israel  and 
Judah,  but  also  of  the  surrounding  nations.  The  Exodus 
must  have  been  a  constant  source  of  interest  and  the 
fact  that  we  have  three  accounts,  in  different  styles,  of 
the  plagues  of  Egypt  is  not  without  literary  significance. 
In  Exodus  7-15,  the  account  is  epic,  in  Psalm  78,  lyric, 
and  in  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  chs.  11,  17,  18,  is  an- 
other account  which  has  been  called  the  picturesque. 
These  are  of  different  dates,  but  show  what  use  was 
made  of  the  material.  There  were  probably  oral  or 
written  stories  and  songs  about  the  patriarchs  and 
Moses,  and  also  about  Samuel,  Samson,  David,  Solo- 
mon, Saul,  and  other  heroes.  Such  a  song  is  mentioned 
in  I  Samuel  18:7.  Ballads  and  folk-songs  existed,  all 
of  which,  whether  preserved  orally,  as  was  probably 
the  Song  of  the  Well,  Numbers  21:17,  or  in  writing,  as 
was  probably  the  story  of  Balaam,  which  we  have  in 
Numbers  chs.  22-24,  ^^  ^  form  part  prose  and  part 
verse,  were  accessible  to  the  Hebrew  writers  of  the  Old 
Testament. 

From  the  evidence  afforded  by  the  text  of  the  Old 
Testament  there  were  probably  collections  of  writings,, 
in  different  parts  of  Palestine,  which  contained  local 
versions  of  histories  or  laws,  and  which  may  have  been 
the  varying  sources  of  those  portions,  especially  of  the 
Pentateuch,  which  scholars  generally  regard  as  parallel, 
but  distinct.  The  Pentateuch  is  ascribed  to-day  to  four 
main  sources  designated  as  J(ahvistic),  because  God  is 
called  Jahveh  in  these  passages,  E(lohistic),  because 
God  is  called  Elohim,  D(euteronomy),  and  P(riestly), 
the  last  so  named  because  concerned  especially  with 
religious  regulations.  To  different  sources  are  ascribed, 
for  example,  the  two  accounts  of  creation,  Genesis  1:1- 
2 :3,  and  2 14-25,  and  the  versions  of  the  Commandments, 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF   THE    OLD   TESTAMENT         35 

Exodus  20:1-17,  Exodus  34:1-27,  Leviticus    19:1-37, 
Deuteronomy  5:1-21. 

Not  only  from  books  now  lost  did  the  Old  Testament 
writers  draw,  but  also  from  other  books  of  the  Old 
Testament,  unless  indeed,  as  may  be  possible,  the  same 
passage  from  a  lost  book  was  taken  by  more  than  one 
author  or  editor.  We  cannot  tell  which  really  occurred, 
because  usually  no  acknowledgment  of  indebtedness 
was  made.  Isaiah  contains  a  long  passage  which  occurs 
in  II  Kings  (cf.  Isaiah  chs.  36-39,  with  II  Kings  18:13- 
20:21),  ch.  37  of  Isaiah  and  ch.  19  of  II  Kings  being 
the  same.  I  Chronicles  10:1-12,  is  evidently  from  I 
Samuel  31  :i-i3,  II  Chronicles  ch.  10,  is  evidently  from  I 
Kings  12:1-19.  I^  ^^^^  "the  whole  of  I  and  II  Chronicles 
is  based  on  the  older  books,  I  and  II  Samuel,  and  I  and 
II  Kings,  as  well  as  on  other  books,  specifically  men- 
tioned, and  doubtless  still  others  not  mentioned.'  The 
closing  verses  of  II  Chronicles  appear  as  the  opening 
verses  of  Ezra.  In  Micah  4:1-3,  we  have  the  same 
passage  as  Isaiah  2:2-4,  ^^^  most  familiar  portion  of  it 
being : — 

"They  shall  beat  their  swords  into  plowshares,  and  their 
spears  into  pruning  hooks;  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword 
against  nation,  neither  shall  they  learn  war  any  more." 

A  less  familiar  passage  evidently  related  to  the  other, 
occurs  in  Joel  3:9-10: — 

"Prepare  war;  stir  up  the  mighty  men;  let  all  the  men  of 
war  draw  near,  let  them  come  up.  Beat  your  plowshares 
into  swords,  and  your  pruning  hooks  into  spears." 

There  are  examples  of  the  double  use  of  the  same 
earlier  material  in  the  collections  of  religious  poetry 


36  A    BOOK    ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

which  we  have  in  the  Psalms,  which  consists,  as  the 
doxologies  at  the  end  of  each  book  indicate,  of  five 
divisions,  1-41;  42-72;  73-89;  90-106;  107-150,  each 
of  which  was  probably  an  independent  collection. 
Psalm  14  of  the  first  book  appears  again  in  the  second 
book  as  Psalm  53.  Psalm  70  is  the  same  as  Psalm  40: 
13-17.  Psalm  108  is  composed  of  Psalms  57:7-11,  and 
60:5-12.  The  versions  are  slightly  difi"erent  in  the 
two  appearances  of  the  same  Psalm  and  the  duplica- 
tions are  always  in  different  books.  Similarly  the  poem 
of  David,  which  is  Psalm  18,  is  put  into  its  historical 
setting  in  II  Samuel  22,  in  a  different  version. 

Associated  with  the  Old  Testament,  but  not  regarded 
by  the  Jews  as  part  of  their  Scriptures,  are  the  books 
of  the  Apocrypha,  which  found  their  way  into  the  Bible, 
of  the  early  Church,  and  which,  with  the  exception  of 
the  Prayer  of  Manasses  and  I  and  II  Esdras,  are 
in  the  Bible  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  because  in 
the  Vulgate.  Protestant  versions  place  the  Apocryphal 
books  in  a  group  between  the  Old  and  the  New  Tes- 
taments. 

From  the  references  to  lost  books,  and  from  the  use  of 
materials  in  our  Old  Testament  we  see  that  there 
existed  earlier,  and  also  contemporaneously,  a  con- 
siderable literature,  of  which  we  have  in  the  Bible  only 
such  examples  as  have  been  preserved  for  us  by  the 
reverent  care  of  men  who  made  it  their  business 
to  see  that  the  best  thought  of  the  best  minds  should 
be  to  the  race  a  perpetual  possession,  and  that  the 
records  of  the  Jews  should  be  preserved.  To  this  lit- 
erature of  the  ancient  world  the  archaeologists  have 
added  considerable  stores  of  the  writings  from  the 
extensive  literatures  of  Egypt  and  Babylonia  con- 
temporary with,  or  earlier  than  the  records  of  the  Jews. 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF   THE    OLD   TESTAMENT         37 

Of  various  dates,  some  doubtless  fairly  early,  and 
Others  much  later  than  any  parts  of  the  Old  Testament, 
are  a  number  of  books  containing  material  concerning 
much  of  the  contents  of  the  Old  Testament,  and 
purporting  to  give  information  about  the  prophets, 
patriarchs  and  others,  supplementing  what  we  learn 
from  the  Bible.  These  books  in  many  cases  show 
the  thought  of  the  time  concerning  matters  to  which 
the  Bible  refers  as  of  general  knowledge,  but  about 
which  it  has  little  to  say,  for  example,  Satan  and  the 
sons  of  God,  and  the  councils  in  Heaven,  spoken  of 
in  Job  I  and  2;  I  Kings  22:19;  Zechariah  3:1;  the  func- 
tions of  Satan  as  mentioned  in  I  Chronicles  21:1,  which 
refers  to  the  same  event  as  II  Samuel  24:1;  the  war  in 
heaven  and  the  fall  of  the  bad  angels,  referred  to  as 
well-known  stories  in  II  Peter  2:4,  and  Jude  v.  6;  the 
vision  of  judgment,  Jude  vs.  14,  15,  quoted  from  the 
book  of  Enoch;  the  quarrel  between  Michael  and  the 
devil,  Jude  v.  9,  a  story  which  Origen  said  was  from  the 
Assumption  of  Moses;  the  contest  between  Moses,  and 
Jannes  and  Jambres,  II  Timothy  3 :8,  who  are  not  named 
elsewhere  in  the  Bible. ^  There  are  many  things  spoken 
of  in  the  Old  Testament  which  were  evidently  a  part 
of  the  literature  or  thought  of  the  time,  or  of  earlier 
times. 

Dr.  R.  H.  Charles, 2  refers  to  the  following  beliefs 
which  find  expression  in  the  Bible  or  in  early  Christian 
writings,  as  being  either  partially  or  wholly  elucidated 
by  the  Secrets  of  Enoch,  written  about  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era,  and  preserved  to  us,  so  far  as  is  yet 
known,  only  in   Slavonic:    i.   Death  was  caused   by 

^They  were  the  sorcerers  of  Exodus  7:11,  Jewish  tradition  states. 
*  The  Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enochy  translated  from  Slavonic  by  W.  R. 
Morfill.    Edited  with  Introduction  and  notes  by  R.  H.  Charles,  Oxford,  1896. 


38 


A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 


sin;  2.  The  millennium;  3.  Of  the  creation  of  man  with 
free  will  and  knowledge  of  good  and  evil;  4.  The  Ser- 
aphim; 5.  The  intercession  of  saints;  6.  The  seven 
heavens,  an  early  Jewish  and  Christian  belief.^ 

How  extensive  the  extant  literature  on  these  and 
other  Biblical  topics  is,  may  easily  be  ascertained  by 
examining  the  contents  of  The  Apocrypha  and  Pseu- 
depigrapha  as  given  by  Dr.  Charles  in  his  work  of 
that  title.  In  volume  II  will  be  found  the  following, 
classified  by  the  nature  of  the  books : — 

Law — ^The  Book  of  Jubilees. 


Legend 


Apocalypses 


The  Letter  of  Aristeas. 

The  Books  of  Adam  and  Eve. 

The  Martyrdom  of  Isaiah. 


Enoch. 

The  Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patriarchs. 

The  Sibylline  Oracles. 

The  Assumption  of  Moses. 

II  Enoch,  or  Secrets  of  Enoch. 

II  Baruch  or  Syriac  Apocalypse  of  Baruch. 

III  Baruch  or  Greek  Apocalypse  of  Baruch. 

IV  Ezra. 


Psalms — Psalms  of  Solomon. 


Wisdom  Books 


IV  Maccabees. 

Pirke  Aboth,  or  Sayings  of  the  Fathers. 

The  Story  of  Ahikar. 


History — Fragments  of  a  Zadokite  Work. 


Many  of  these  books,  while  not  themselves  very  an- 

*  Cf.  such  expressions  as  "the  third  heaven,"  II  Corinthians  12:2,  and 
the  heaven  of  heavens"  Deuteronomy  10:14;  I  Kings  8:27,  Psalm  148:4. 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    OLD    TESTAMENT-        39 

cient,  yet  contain  ancient  stories  some  of  which  under- 
lie the  Bible  books. ^ 

*  As  do  also  such  books  as  were  published  in  a  volume  bearing  the  title 
The  Uncanonical  Writings  of  the  Old  Testament,  found  in  the  Armenian 
Manuscripts  of  the  Library  of  St.  Lazarus,  translated  into  English  by  the 
Rev.  Jacques  Issaverdens,  Venice,  1901.  In  this  book  are  found  the  follow- 
ing:— 

The  Book  of  Adam. 

The  History  of  Assaneth. 

The  History  of  Moses. 

Concerning  the  Deaths  of  the  Prophets — Isaiah,  Hosea,  Amos,  Micah, 
Joel,  Obadiah,  Jonah,  Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zephaniah,  Haggai,  Zachariah, 
Malachi,  Daniel,  Jeremiah,  Ezekiel. 

Concerning  King  Solomon. 

A  Short  History  of  the  Prophet  EUas. 

Concerning  the  Prophet  Jeremiah. 

The  Vision  of  Enoch  the  Just. 

The  Seventh  Vision  of  Daniel. 

The  Testaments  of  the  XII  Patriarchs. 

The  Third  Book  of  Esdras. 

Inquiries  made  by  the  Prophet  Esdras. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT 

Back  of  the  New  Testament  is  the  Old  Testament, 
and  not  only  this,  but  an  extensive  literature  that  came 
into  existence  after  the  latest  events  of  which  the  Old 
Testament  treats.  The  Old  Testament  Scriptures  are 
concerned,  except  for  the  opening  chapters  of  Genesis, 
with  the  personages  and  events  of  about  seventeen 
hundred  years,  from  Abraham  to  Nehemiah;  the  New 
Testament,  except  perhaps  the  book  of  Revelation, 
with  the  personages  and  events  of  probably  less  than 
one  hundred  years.  The  Old  Testament,  while  con- 
taining many  biographies,  falls  much  of  it  in  the  domain 
of  national  history,  political  as  well  as  religious,  though 
chiefly  the  latter.  The  New  Testament,  some  of  which 
falls  in  the  domain  of  history,  belongs  rather  to  biog- 
raphy, containing  as  it  does,  except  Revelation,  ac- 
counts of  the  birth,  life,  teachings,  death  and  resurrec- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ,  the  efforts  to  promulgate  and  inter- 
pret those  teachings,  and  to  organize  a  Church  founded 
upon  them.  The  Revelation,  a  type  of  literature  rep- 
resented in  the  Old  Testament  in  Daniel,  and  in  the 
Apocrypha  in  II  Esdras,  sets  forth  the  events  of  the 
future  as  visions;  there  are  to  be  a  new  heaven  and  a 
new  earth,  in  which  God  shall  dwell  with  man,  "  and 
death  shall  be  no  more;  neither  shall  there  be  mourning, 
nor  crying,  nor  pain,  any  more."    Revelation  21 14. 

To  the  period  between  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New  belong  some  of  the  books  of  the  Apocrypha.    The 

40 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    NEW   TESTAMENT        4I 

books  of  the  Maccabees  give  us  the  history  of  the  re- 
action against  Greek  power  and  influences.  The  Per- 
sian gave  way  to  the  Greek  who  was  succeeded  by  the 
Roman.  These  changes  from  the  conditions  in  the 
time  of  Ezra  bring  us  to  the  Palestine  of  Jesus  and  his 
disciples.  The  four  centuries  immediately  preceding 
the  Christian  era  saw  not  only  changes  in  the  political 
conditions,  but  also  the  development  of  certain  ideas 
which  are  later  more  clearly  set  forth  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament. It  is  in  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  that  we  find  ex- 
pressed such  thoughts  as  these.on  personal  immortality : — 

"But  the  souls  of  the  righteous  are  in  the  hand  of  God, 
And  no  torment  shall  touch  them. 

In  the  eyes  of  the  fooHsh  they  seemed  to  have  died; 

And  their  departure  was  accounted  to  he  their  hurt, 

And  their  journeying  away  from  us  to  he  their  ruin: 

But  they  are  in  peace. 

For  even  if  in  the  sight  of  men  they  be  punished, 

Their  hope  is  full  of  immortality; 

And  having  home  a  little  chastening,  they  shall  receive 
great  good; 

Because  God  made  trial  of  them,  and  found  them  worthy 
of  himself. 

As  gold  in  the  furnace  he  proved  them, 

And  as  a  whole  burnt  offering  he  accepted  them. 

And  in  the  time  of  their  visitation  they  shall  shine  forth, 

And  as  sparks  among  stubble  they  shall  run  to  and  fro. 

They  shall  judge  nations,  and  have  dominion  over  peoples; 

And  the  Lord  shall  reign  over  them  for  evermore."  The 
Wisdom  of  Solomon  3:1-8. 

In  Daniel  we  read : — 

"They  that  are  wise  shall  shine  as  the  brightness  of  the 
firmament;  and  they  that  turn  many  to  righteousness  as 
the  stars  for  ever  and  ever."    Daniel  12:3. 


42  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Not  as  new  ideas  then  came  these  words  in  the  New 
Testament : — 

"Then  shall  the  righteous  shine  forth  as  the  sun  in  the 
kingdom  of  their  Father."    Matthew  13:43. 

"When  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve 
tribes  of  Israel."    Matthew  19:28. 

"Or  know  ye  not  that  the  saints  shall  judge  the  world.?" 
I  Corinthians  6:2. 

The  immortality  of  the  soul  is  set  forth  in  the  Old 
Testament  in  a  number  of  passages/  such  as  the  fol- 
lowing : — 

"  For  thou  wilt  not  leave  my  soul  to  Sheol; 

Neither  wilt  thou  suffer  thy  holy  one  to  see  corruption. 

Thou  wilt  show  me  the  path  of  life: 

In  thy  presence  is  fulness  of  joy; 

In  thy  right-hand  there  are  pleasures  for  evermore." 
Psalm  16:10,  II. 

"But  God  will  redeem  my  soul  from  the  power  of  Sheol; 
For  he  will  receive  me."    Psalm  49:15. 

"As  for  me,  I  shall  behold  thy  face  in  righteousness; 

I  shall  be  satisfied  when  I  awake,  with  beholding  thy 
form."  Psalm  17:15. 

"But  as  for  me  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  [Heb.  goel^ 
vindicator]  liveth. 

And  at  last  he  will  stand  up  upon  the  earth: 

And  after  my  skin,  even  this  body,  is  destroyed. 

Then  without  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God; 

Whom  I,  even  I,  shall  see,  on  my  side, 

And  mine  eyes  shall  behold,  and  not  as  a  stranger.** 
Job  19:25-27. 

^  Critics  express  doubts  as  to  wViether  such  passages  do  not  refer  rather 
to  national  deliverance,  or  to  individual  escape  from  danger  or  sickness. 
There  is  danger  of  attributing  to  Old  Testament  writers  views,  derived  from 
the  New  Testament,  which  the  Old  Testament  writers  may  never  have  held. 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    NEW   TESTAMENT        43 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  is  a  clear 
and  definite  belief  of  the  mother  and  her  seven  sons, 
who  suffered  death  rather  than  eat  swine's  flesh  at 
the  King's  command.  We  read  that  the  second  son 
said  to  his  murderer: — 

"Thou,  miscreant,  dost  release  us  out  of  this  present  life, 
but  the  King  of  the  world  shall  raise  up  us,  who  have  died 
for  his  laws,  unto  an  eternal  renewal  of  life."  II  Maccabees 
7:9. 

The  fourth  son  said: — 

"It  is  good  to  die  at  the  hands  of  men  and  look  for  the 
hopes  which  are  given  by  God,  that  we  shall  be  raised  up 
again  by  him;  for,  as  for  thee,  thou  shalt  have  no  resurrection 
unto  life."    II  Maccabees  7:14. 

This  last  is  the  idea  in  the  Gospel  of  John : — 

"They  that  have  done  good,  unto  the  resurrection  of  life; 
and  they  that  have  done  evil,  unto  the  resurrection  of  judg- 
ment."   John  5:29. 

This  idea  is  expressed  also  in  the  Old  Testament: — 

"And  many  of  them  that  sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth 
shall  awake,  some  to  everlasting  life,  and  some  to  shame  and 
everlasting  contempt."    Daniel  12:2. 

Compare  the  ideas  of  national,  and  also  personal, 
resurrection  contained  in  the  following  passages: — ^ 

"Thy  dead  shall  live;  my  dead  bodies  shall  arise.  Awake 
and  sing,  ye  that  dwell  in  the  dust;  for  thy  dew  is  as  the  dew 

^  A  distinction  must  he  recognized  between  resurrection  of  the  body  and 
immortality  of  the  soul,  which  are  quite  separate  ideas.  See  also  the  vision 
of  the  valley  of  dry  bones,  Ezekiel,  ch.  37. 


44  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  herbs,  and  the  earth  shall  cast  forth  the  dead."     Isaiah 
26:19. 

"Come,  and  let  us  return  unto  Jehovah;  for  he  hath  torn, 
and  he  will  heal  us;  he  hath  smitten,  and  he  will  bind  us  up. 
After  two  days  will  he  revive  us:  on  the  third  day  he  will 
raise  us  up,  and  we  shall  live  before  him."    Hosea  6:1,  2. 

The  relation  of  the  New  Testament  to  the  Apocrypha, 
which  will  be  discussed  a  little  further  on,  is  mentioned 
here  as  connecting  the  Old  with  the  New,  as  forming 
part  of  the  background  of  the  New,  and  as  showing 
that  the  doctrines  of  personal  immortality  and  the 
resurrection  of  the  body,  so  all-important  in  the  New 
Testament,  were  current  in  Palestine,  in  the  time  of 
Jesus,  and  earlier,  the  Sadducees  constituting  a  dis- 
tinct sect,  among  the  peculiarities  of  which  was  the  fact 
that  they  did  not  believe  in  the  resurrection.  Matthew 
22:23-32. 

There  is  in  the  New  Testament  no  quotation  from 
or  reference  to  any  of  the  books  of  the  Apocrypha,  by 
name,  or  as  authority,  although  there  are  many  pas- 
sages, such  as  those  already  quoted,  from  which  we 
are  almost  sure  that  the  Apocryphal  books,  or  some  of 
them,  were  known  to  the  New  Testament  writers. 
The  Apocrypha  may  be  regarded  as  a  direct  literary 
influence  on  the  New  Testament. 

The  ancient  Scriptures  composed  of  the  Law,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Writings,  were  to  the  early  Christians, 
as  to  the  Jews,  inspired  books.  Their  view  of  them  is 
expressed  in  a  phrase,  in  Hebrews  5:12,  "the  oracles  of 
God,"  which  is  repeated  in  the  declaration: — "What 
advantage  then  hath  the  Jew?  .  .  .  much  every 
way:  first  of  all,  that  they  were  entrusted  with  the 
oracles  of  God."  Romans  3:1-2.  Jesus  quoted  "the 
Scriptures,"  referred  to  "the  Law,"  "the  Prophets" 


THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    45 

and  "the  Psalms,"  and  said  to  his  disciples: — "Ye 
search  the  Scriptures,  because  ye  think  that  In  them  ye 
have  eternal  life."  John  5:39.  Paul  writes  to  Tim- 
othy:— "from  a  babe  thou  hast  known  the  sacred 
writings  which  are  able  to  make  thee  wise  unto  salva- 
tion through  faith  which  is  in  Christ  Jesus."  II 
Timothy  3  :i5.  In  time  the  Epistles  of  Paul  came  to  be 
regarded  as  inspired,  and  are  referred  to  as  "scrip- 
tures":— 

"...  even  as  our  beloved  brother  Paul  also,  according  to 
the  wisdom  given  to  him,  wrote  unto  you;  as  also  in  all  his 
epistles,  speaking  in  them  of  these  things;  wherein  are  some 
things  hard  to  be  understood,  which  the  ignorant  and  un- 
stedfast  wrest,  as  they  do  also  the  other  scriptures,  unto  their 
own  destruction."    II  Peter  3 :  15-16. 

Other  writings  were  also  regarded  as  inspired,  and 
collectively  they  became  known  as  the  "New  Cov- 
enant," in  distinction  from  the  "Old  Covenant," 
II  Corinthians  3 :6-i4,  or  the  Old  Testament  and  the 
New  Testament. 

Just  as  Antiochus  Epiphanes  (d.  164  b.  c.)  had  en- 
deavored to  eradicate  the  Jewish  religion  by  destroying 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures,  I  Maccabees  1:44-57,  and 
putting  to  death  those  who  were  found  possessing  a 
copy,  so  Diocletian  (d.  313  a.  d.)  endeavored  to  destroy 
Christianity.    Euseblus  wrote  of  this  effort: — 

"I  saw  with  my  own  eyes  the  houses  of  prayer  thrown 
down  and  razed  to  their  foundations,  and  the  inspired  and 
sacred  scriptures  consigned  to  the  fire  in  the  open  market 
place."    Ecclesiastical  History,  Book  8,  ch.  2. 

In  spite  of  all  these  attempts  to  destroy  them,  the 
Scriptures,  Old  and  New,  remain  to-day  in  literature, 


46  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

what  they  have  been  for  centuries,  the  world's  most 
cherished  spiritual  possession. 

Let  us  see  what  the  literary  background  and  imme- 
diate surroundings  of  the  New  Testament  were.  For 
convenience  we  will  discuss  them  as  follows: — i.  The 
Old  Testament,  2.  The  Apocrypha  and  other  non-canon- 
ical writings,  3.  Stories,  preserved  in  other  ancient  lit- 
erature, 4.  Greek  literature,  5.  Authors  like  Josephus 
and  Philo,  6.  Lost  writings  of  Paul  and  other  early 
Christians,  including  "  Sayings  "  of  Jesus.  These  groups 
are  not  always  mutually  exclusive,  but  they  will  serve 
our  purpose.^ 

I.  The  Old  Testament.  There  are  in  the  New  Tes- 
tament quotations  from  thirty  of  the  Old  Testament 
books.  Some  of  the  quotations  are  literal,  others  are 
what  may  be  termed  composite,  being  made  up  of 
a  combination  of  several  passages.  Examples  of  the 
latter  are  Romans  9:32-33,  which  combines  Isaiah 
8:14,  and  28:16,  as  does  also  I  Peter  2:6-8.  It  is  likely 
that  Mark  1:2-3,  is  a  combination  of  MalachI  3:1  and 
Isaiah  40:3,  perhaps  from  some  manual. ^  One  of  the 
most  interesting  instances  of  composite  quoting  from 
the  Old  Testament  is  found  In  Romans  3:10-12.  Paul 
quotes  Psalm  14:1-3.  He  then  quotes  Psalms  5:9,  140: 
3,  10:7,  Isaiah  59:7-8,  Psalm  36:1.  This  composite 
passage  found  its  way  into  the  Septuagint  version 
of  Psalm  14,  and  thence  into  the  Vulgate.  It  Is  Included 
in  all  translations  of  the  Vulgate  and  through  the  Great 
Bible  passed  Into  the  Psalter  in  the  Book  of  Common 
Prayer,  where  it  remains. 

*  For  a  more  detailed  discussion  of  this  subject  with  additional  references, 
see  James  Moffatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Testamenty  New 
York,  1914,  pp.  21-35. 

'  For  a  discussion  of  this  see  James  Moffatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature 
oj  the  New  Testamenty  pp.  23-24. 


THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    47 

2.  Quotations  from  non-canonical  books.  Examples 
are  found  in  Jude  as  mentioned  before: — ^ 

"But  Michael  the  archangel,  when  contending  with  the 
devil  he  disputed  about  the  body  of  Moses,  durst  not  bring 
against  him  a  railing  judgment,  but  said.  The  Lord  rebuke 
thee."     Jude  v.  9. 

Origen  said  ^  that  this  incident  is  from  the  Assump- 
tion of  Moses. 

Enoch  is  quoted  as  an  apparently  well-known  book. 
The  passage  is : — 

"And  to  these  also  Enoch,  the  seventh  from  Adam, 
prophesied,  saying.  Behold  the  Lord  came  with  ten  thousands 
of  his  holy  ones,  to  execute  judgment  upon  all,  and  to  con- 
vict all  the  ungodly  of  all  their  works  of  ungodliness  which 
they  have  ungodly  wrought,  and  of  all  the  hard  things  which 
ungodly  sinners  have  spoken  against  him."    Jude  vs.  14-15. 

The  verses  in  Enoch  are: — 

"And  behold!  He  conieth  with  ten  thousands  of  [His] 
holy  ones 

To  execute  judgment  upon  all. 

And  to  destroy  all  the  ungodly: 

And  to  convict  all  flesh 

Of  all  the  works  of  their  ungodliness  which  they  have 
ungodly  committed. 

And  of  all  the  hard  things  which  ungodly  sinners  have 
spoken  against  him."    I  Enoch  i  :9.^ 

There  are  many  passages  in  the  New  Testament 
which  are  strikingly  similar  in  idea  and  language  to 
passages  in  I  Enoch.  A  list  is  given  by  Dr.  Charles 
in   an   appendix   to   his   edition.     The   following  will 

ip.  37. 

^De  Principiisy  III,  ii,  i. 

'  The  Book  of  Enoch  or  /  Enoch,  edited  by  R.  H.  Charles,  Oxford,  19 12. 


48  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

show  how  close  the  Ideas  of  the  canonical  and  of  the 
non-canonical  books  were  to  each  other: — 

"...  the  Son  of  man  shall  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  glory, 
ye  also  shall  sit  upon  twelve  thrones,  judging  the  twelve  tribes 
of  Israel."    Matthew  19:28. 

"...  when  they  see  that  son  of  man  sitting  on  the  throne 
of  his  glory."    Enoch  62:5. 

"...  woe  unto  that  man  through  whom  the  Son  of  man 
is  betrayed!  good  were  it  for  that  man  if  he  had  not  been 
bom."    Matthew  26:24. 

"And  where  the  resting  place  of  those  who  have  denied 
the  Lord  of  Spirits.? 

"It  had  been  good  for  them  if  they  had  not  been  bom." 
Enoch  38:2. 

"For  neither  doth  the  Father  judge  any  man,  but  he  hath 
given  all  judgment  unto  the  Son."    John  5 :22. 

"And  he  sat  on  the  throne  of  his  glory, 

And  the  sum  of  judgement  was  given  unto  the  Son  of 
Man."    Enoch  69:27. 

"All  things  are  naked  and  laid  open  before  the  eyes  of 
him  with  whom  we  have  to  do."    Hebrews  4:13. 

"All  things  are  naked  and  open  in  Thy  sight,  and  all  things 
Thou  seest,  and  nothing  can  hide  itself  from  Thee."    Enoch 

9:5. 

"...  who  being  the  eflFulgence  of  his  glory,  and  the  very 
image  of  his  substance,  and  upholding  all  things  by  the  word 
of  his  power  ..."    Hebrews  1:3. 

"For  she  [wisdom]  is  a  breath  of  the  power  of  God,  And 
a  clear  effluence  of  the  glory  of  the  Almighty;  .  .  . 

For  she  [wisdom]  is  an  effulgence  from  everlasting  light. 
And  an  unspotted  mirror  of  the  working  of  God, 

And  an  image  of  his  goodness. 

And  she  being  one  hath  power  to  do  all  things."  The 
Wisdom  of  Solomon  7:25-27. 

"It  is  a  fearful  thing  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  living 
God."    Hebrews  10:31. 


THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    49 

*'For  even  if  for  the  present  time  I  shall  remove  from  me 
the  punishment  of  men,  yet  shall  I  not  escape  the  hands  of 
the  Almighty,  either  living  or  dead."    II  Maccabees,  6:26. 

These  and  other  passages  indicate  that  some  ideas 
which  are  commonly  supposed  to  have  been  original 
with  the  New  Testament  writers  were  the  thought  of  the 
time  and  had  been  expressed  before.  The  following 
passages  probably  indicate  that  there  was  a  *' 'small 
apocalypse,'  consisting  of  material  set  in  the  ordinary 
triple  division  common  to  apocalyptic  literature  (cf. 
Apoc.  9:12,  11:14)."  ^ 

Mark  13  7-8  =  Matthew  24:6-8  =  Luke  21:9-11. 
Mark  13:14-20  =  Matthew  24:15-22=  (Luke  21:20-24). 
Mark  13:24-27  =  Matthew  24:29-31  =  (Luke  21 :25-27,28). 

There  is  perhaps  evidence  of  the  existence  of  a  lost 
wisdom  book  in  Luke  11:49-51: — 

"Therefore  also  said  the  wisdom  of  God,  I  will  send  unto 
them  prophets  and  apostles;  and  some  of  them  they  shall 
kill  and  persecute,"  etc. 

From  another  lost  book  perhaps  came  John  7:38: — 

"He  that  believeth  on  me,  as  the  scripture  hath  said, 
from  within  him  shall  flow  rivers  of  living  water." 

These  and  other  passages  from  the  New  Testament 
are  similar  to  the  words  of  Ecclesiasticus: — 

"If  a  man  love  me  he  will  keep  my  word:  and  my  Father 
will  love  him,  and  we  will  come  unto  him,  and  make  our 
abode  with  him."    John  14:23. 

*  James  MofFatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Testament^  pp. 
207-209.  The  three  divisions  of  the  Apocalypse  are  I.  The  beginning  of 
woes  (apx^  u5iv<av),  2.  Tribulations  (^Xf^ts),  3.  The  coming  of  the  Lord 
(napovala). 


50  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"They  that  fear  the  Lord  will  not  disobey  his  words; 

And  they  that  love  him  will  keep  his  ways."  Ecclesias- 
ticus  2:15. 

"Rejoice  with  them  that  rejoice;  Weep  with  them  that 
weep."    Romans  12:15. 

"Be  not  wanting  to  them  that  weep; 

And    mourn    with    them    that    mourn."     Ecclesiasticus 

7:34. 

"Brethren,  even  if  a  man  be  overtaken  in  any  trespass, 
ye  who  are  spiritual,  restore  such  a  one  in  a  spirit  of  gentle- 
ness; looking  to  thyself,  lest  thou  also  be  tempted."  Gala- 
tians  6:1. 

"Reproach  not  a  man  when  he  tumeth  from  sin: 

Remember  that  we  are  all  worthy  of  punishment.** 
Ecclesiasticus  8:5. 

"Be  not  unequally  yoked  with  unbelievers:  For  what 
fellowship  have  righteousness  and  iniquity.^  or  what  commun- 
ion hath  light  with  darkness.'*"    II  Corinthians  6:14. 

"What  fellowship  shall  the  wolf  have  with  the  lamb.? 

So  is  the  sinner  unto  the  godly."     Ecclesiasticus  13:17. 

"  He  hath  put  down  princes  from  their  thrones. 

And  hath  exalted  them  of  low  degree."    Luke  i  :$2. 

"The  Lord  cast  down  the  thrones  of  rulers. 

And  set  the  meek  in  their  stead."     Ecclesiasticus  10:14. 

"Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  labor  and  are  heavy  laden, 
and  I  will  give  you  rest.  Take  my  yoke  upon  you,  and  learn 
of  me;  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart:  and  ye  shall  find 
rest  unto  your  souls.  For  my  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is 
light."    Matthew  11:28-30. 

"  Put  your  neck  under  the  yoke. 

And  let  your  soul  receive  instruction, 

She  is  hard  at  hand  to  find, 

Behold  with  your  eyes. 

How  that  I  laboured  but  a  little, 

"And  found  for  myself  much  rest.**    Ecclesiasticus  51:26- 

27. 

"I  am  the  bread  of  life;  he  that  cometh  to  me  shall  not 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF   THE    NEW   TESTAMENT         5 1 

hunger,  and  he  that  believeth  on  me  shall  never  thirst." 
John  6:35. 

"They  that  eat  me  shall  yet  be  hungry; 

And  they  that  drink  me  shall  yet  be  thirsty."  Ecclesias- 
ticus  24:21. 

The  following  passage: — 

"Things  which  eye  saw  not,  and  ear  heard  not. 
And  which  entered  not  into  the  heart  of  man. 
Whatsoever   things    God    prepared   for   them    that   love 
him."    I  Corinthians  2:9. 

was  said  by  Origen  (in  a  comment  on  Matthew  27:9) 
to  be  from  a  lost  book,  the  Secrets  of  Elijah  the  Prophet. 
Chrysostom  and  Theophylact  state  that  the  words  are 
either  from  a  lost  book,  or  are  a  paraphrase  of  Isaiah 
52:15,  while  Jerome  thought  them  to  be  a  paraphrase 
of  Isaiah  64:4. 

"Awake  thou  that  sleepest,  and  arise  from  the  dead,  and 
Christ  shall  shine  upon  thee."    Ephesians  5:14. 

has  been  attributed  to  the  lost  Secrets  of  Elijah,  to  a 
paraphrase  of  Isaiah  60:1,  19,  20,  or  to  a  Christian 
hymn. 

3.  Ancient  Stories,  Many  of  these  have  been  pre- 
served in  Syriac,  Arabic,  Armenian,  and  in  Rabbinical 
literature. 

The  Ahikar  stories  contain  parallels  to  the  parable 
of  the  fig  tree  that  bore  no  fruit,  Luke  13:6-9,  the 
parable  of  the  evil  servant,  Matthew  24:45-51,  and 
Luke  12:47,  ^^<^  to  the  story  of  Judas. ^    There  was  also 

1  The  Story  of  Ahikar^  edited  by  J.  Rendel  Harris,  London,  1898,  p.  x. 
This  story  is  given  also  in  The  Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  of  the  Old 
Testament,  edited  by  R,  H.  Charles. 


52  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

a  great  body  of  legends  both  oral  and  written,  cur- 
rent among  the  people,  and  discussions  and  opinions 
of  the  Rabbis,  especially  concerning  the  interpretation 
of  the  Pentateuch. 

4.  Quotations  from  Greek  Poets.  Paul  quotes.  Acts 
17:28,  "certain  even  of  your  own  poets,"  as  having 
said  of  God  "For  we  are  also  his  offspring,"  a  state- 
ment made  by  Aratus  in  the  opening  of  his  poem  the 
Phsenomena,  and  by  Cleanthes  in  his  Hymn  to  Zeus. 
He  quotes,  Titus  1:12,  the  Cretan  poet  Epimenides,  "a 
prophet  of  their  own,"  (who,  according  to  Jerome 
and  Epiphanius,  is  quoted  by  Callimachus  in  his  Hymn 
to  Zeus),  as  saying: — 

"Cretans  are  always  liars,  evil  beasts,  idle  gluttons." 

An  iambic  trimeter  occurs  In  the  Greek  of  I  Corin- 
thians 15:33: — 

This  is  found  In  a  fragment  of  Menander,  and  is 
translated: — 

"Evil  companionships  corrupt  good  morals." 

An  hexameter  line,  perhaps  a  quotation,  occurs  in 
James  1:17. 

Ilao-a  Soo-t?  dyaOrj  Koi  Trav  Btoprjfia  rcXctov. 

"  Every  good  gift  and  every  perfect  gift." 

In  I  Timothy  3:16,  and  H  Timothy  2  :i  i-i 2,  the  Greek 
shows  unmistakably  quotations  from  a  Christian  hymn, 
and  I  Corinthians  15:42-43,  may,  from  Its  form,  be 
such  a  quotation. 

5.  Influence  of  Josephus  and  Philo,    Writers  such  as 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF   THE    NEW   TESTAMENT        53 

Josephus,  are  from  similarities  of  ideas  and  language, 
thought  by  some  to  have  been  well-known  to  the 
authors  of  II  Peter,  and  the  Gospels  of  Luke  and  John.^ 
The  teachings  of  Christianity  influenced,  and  were 
influenced  by,  philosophic  ideas  of  the  early  centuries. 
In  the  writings  of  Philo,  an  Alexandrian  Jew,  we  find 
many  similarities  of  thought  to  the  Gospel  of  John 
and  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews,  both  of  which  use 
concerning  Jesus  expressions  used  by  Philo  of  the  Logos 
of  God.  The  writings  commonly  known  as  Hermes 
Trismegistus,  a  collection  of  Christian  Neoplatonic 
works  of  probably  the  latter  part  of  the  first  century, 
contain  ideas  of  God  that  are  much  the  same  as  those 
of  John,  Hebrews  and  Revelation;  for  example,  in 
Hermes  Trismegistus  we  read: — 

"  But  the  Mind,  The  God,  being  masculine-feminine,  orig- 
inating Life  and  Light,  begat  by  Word  another  Mind  Creator, 
Who  being  God  of  the  Fire  and  Spirit,  created  Seven  Admin- 
istrators, encompassing  in  circles  the  sensible  world;  and  their 
administration  is  called  Fate."    Poemandres  i  -.9. 

In  Revelation  we  read  of  "the  seven  Spirits  of  God," 
and  the  seven  stars,"  1:20,  3:1,  "seven  lamps  of  fire 
burning  before  the  throne,  which  are  the  seven  Spirits 
of  God,"  4:5,  "The  seven  Spirits  of  God  sent  forth 
into  all  the  earth."  5 :6. 

6.  Lost  Writings.  A  lost  epistle  of  Paul  is  probably 
referred  to  in  I  Corinthians  5 19,  "  I  wrote  unto  you  in 
my  epistle"  and  there  may  easily  have  been  other 
epistles  lost,^  just  as  we  have  probably  lost  some  of  the 

*  In  regard  to  Josephus  critics  differ,  some  maintaining  that  similarities 
of  language  between  Josephus  and  the  New  Testament  are  merely  coin- 
cidences. See  James  Moifatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Tes' 
tament,  pp.  28-31. 

'See  Colossians  4:16,  where  a  letter  from  Laodicea  is  mentioned. 


54  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

writings  evidently  referred  to  by  Luke  i:i,  where  he 
says  "many  have  taken  in  hand  to  draw  up  a  narrative 
concerning  those  matters  which  have  been  fulfilled 
among  us."  It  seems  certain  that  II  Corinthians,  chs. 
10-13,  is  a  separate  letter  and  belongs,  not  where  it  is 
now  placed,  but  between  I  and  II  Corinthians.  There 
were  therefore  probably  four  letters  of  Paul  to  the 
Corinthians,  of  which  we  possess  three.  The  necessity, 
of  authenticating  his  epistles,  under  some  circumstances, 
is  indicated  by  Paul  in  his  expression  II  Thessalonians 
3:17,  "...  with  mine  own  hand,  which  is  a  token  in 
every  epistle."  Paul  asked  Timothy  to  bring  him 
"the  books,  especially  the  parchments,"  II  Timothy, 
4:13.  We  do  not  know  what  books  or  rolls  were  meant. 
Perhaps  they  were  copies  of  the  Scriptures.  That  Paul 
was  a  scholar  is  well  known,  but  the  words  of  Festus, 
Acts,  26:24,  "thy  much  learning"  may  also  be  translated 
"those  many  writings,"  perhaps  referring  to  parch- 
ments, which  Paul  was  accustomed  to  carry  with  him 
in  his  travels.  He  had  left  such  a  lot  of  parchments  at 
Troas  and  desired  Timothy  to  bring  them  to  him. 
The  discovery  of  "Sayings"  of  Jesus  in  1897  and  1904  ^ 
may  be  connected  with  a  statement  of  Paul,  Acts  20:35, 
when  he  quotes  a  "saying"  that  is  not  included  in  any 
collection  we  have,  but  which  was  well-known  to  his 
hearers  at  Ephesus,  "...  remember  the  words  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  that  he  himself  said,  *It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive.'"  Paul  was  not  quoting  anything 
he  had  himself  heard. 

The  Formation  of  the  New  Testament 

Consider  now  how  the  New  Testament    came  into 
being.    Like  the  Old,  it  consists  of  a  collection  of  books 

*  See  below,  p.  67. 


THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    55 

written,  for  the  most  part,  Independently  of  each  other, 
but  in  process  of  time  grouped  together  and  regarded 
as  authoritative  and  inspired.  Among  the  early  Chris- 
tian writers  there  were  differences  of  opinion  concern- 
ing the  authenticity  or  inspiration  of  some  of  the  books 
now  included  in  the  New  Testament.  The  earliest 
list  known  of  the  books  recognized  by  the  Christian 
church  is  the  Muratorian  Fragment  first  published  in 
1740  by  L.  A.  Muratori.  It  was  found  in  the  Ambrosian 
Library  at  Milan  and  is  thought  to  date  from  about 
170  A.  D.  The  names  of  Matthew  and  Mark  are 
evidently  torn  off,  the  list  beginning  with  "The  Gospel 
of  St.  Luke,  the  physician,  companion  of  St.  Paul, 
stands  third."  The  Gospel  of  St.  John  comes  fourth. 
Next  comes  Acts,  then  thirteen  Epistles  of  Paul.  The 
Fragment  omits  James,  I  and  II  Peter,  Hebrews,  and 
III  John  which  were  accepted  later,  and  states  "there 
is  in  circulation  an  Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans  and  one 
to  the  Alexandrians  forged  In  Paul's  name,  and  several 
others  which  cannot  be  received  in  the  Catholic  Church. 
The  Epistle  of  Jude  however  and  two  with  the  name  of 
John  are  held  in  the  Catholic  Church.  We  receive  also 
that  Revelation  of  John  and  the  Revelation  of  Peter, 
which  latter  some  of  our  body  will  not  allow  to  be 
read  in  church." 

Origen  (210  a.  d.)  omits  James  and  Jude  from  his 
list,  but  includes  them  in  other  passages.  Euseblus 
(315  A.  D.)  gives  the  list  of  books  as  now  accepted, 
but  mentions  that  some  doubted  concerning  the 
Epistles  of  James,  Jude,  II  Peter,  II  and  III  John  and 
the  Revelation.  Athanaslus,  a  contemporary  of  Eu- 
seblus, gives  the  list  as  we  have  It.  Cyril  (340  a.  d.), 
Gregory  Nazlanzen,  (375  a.  d.)  and  Phllastrlus  (380 
A,  p.)  omit  the  Revelation,  as  do  also  the  Bishops  in 


56  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  Council  of  Laodicea  (363  a.  d.).  Jerome  (382 
A.  D.)  gives  our  list,  but  is  doubtful  about  the  Epistle 
to  the  Hebrews.  Rufinus  (390  a.  d.)  and  Augustin 
(394  A.  D.)  give  our  list,  and  the  forty-four  Bishops 
at  the  Council  of  Carthage  (the  third,  having  been 
preceded  by  the  Councils  of  Nicaea  and  Laodicea) 
pronounce  canonical  the  books  of  the  New  Testament 
as  we  have  them. 

Various  lists  of  New  Testament  books  from  early- 
times  differ  somewhat  in  the  order  in  which  the  books 
are  arranged.  The  Gospels  usually  are  put  first  and 
the  Apocalypse  last,  with  the  Acts,  the  Pauline  Epistles, 
and  the  General,  or  Catholic  Epistles,  in  that  order, 
between.  It  was  logical  to  group  the  Gospels  and  the 
Acts  first,  as  historical  books,  but  Jerome  placed  the 
Pauline  Epistles  before  Acts  in  his  arrangement,  while 
Chrysostom  placed  the  Pauline  Epistles  before  the 
Gospels  in  his  list.  Early  lists  differ  in  the  order  in 
which  they  put  the  Gospels.  Commonly,  but  not 
always,  Matthew  comes  first,  because  it  was  supposed 
that  this  was  the  earliest.  Chrysostom  arranged  the 
Gospels,  John,  Matthew,  Luke,  Mark,  while  some  old 
Latin  manuscripts  give  Matthew,  John,  Luke,  Mark. 
Almost  every  other  arrangement  is  to  be  found,  but 
the  Council  of  Laodicea  (363  a.  d.)  adopted  the  order 
of  the  Gospels  as  we  are  accustomed  to  find  it. 

The  order  of  the  Epistles  is  likewise  variously  given. 
It  is  thought  that  the  form  in  which  we  have  th«  present 
books  of  the  New  Testament  may  have  been  affected 
by  editing  to  make  them  conform  better  to  the  unity 
of  the  canon.  We  are  not  concerned  with  these  prob- 
lems in  this  volume.  They  are  mentioned,  however, 
as  of  interest  in  any  discussion  of  the  New  Testament 
as  literature. 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF   THE    NEW  TESTAMENT        57 

The  Gospels  are  believed  to  have  been  written  in 
the  order  i.  Mark,  2.  Matthew,  3.  Luke,  4.  John,  the 
last  named  having  been,  as  we  know  from  a  state- 
ment of  Clement  of  Alexandria  ^  (d.  about  220  a.  d.), 
written  after  the  other  three.  From  the  nature  of  the 
contents,  as  well  as  from  tradition,  and  from  the  state- 
ments of  Papias,  it  has  been  concluded  that  Mark  was 
the  first  written,  almost,  but  not  quite,  the  whole  of 
Mark  being  repeated  by  Matthew  and  Luke.^ 

Earlier  than  the  Gospels,  however,  were  some,  per- 
haps all,  of  the  Epistles  of  Paul,  the  earliest  of  which 
was  probably  the  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians, 
and  the  last  the  Second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  written 
probably  from  the  prison  in  Rome,  as  was  also  the 
Epistle  to  Philemon,  which  states  that  it  comes  from 
"Paul  the  aged,  and  now  a  prisoner."  ^ 

The  Arrangement  of  the  Books  of  the  New  Testament 

This  is  the  way  in  which  the  New  Testament  writings 
are  grouped.    There  is  method  in  it. 


Historical  Books 


The  Gospel  according  to  Matthew. 
The  Gospel  according  to  Mark. 
The  Gospel  according  to  Luke. 
The  Gospel  according  to  John. 
The  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 


*  Ante-Nicene  FatherSy  vol.  II,  p.  580. 

2  "This  fact,  that  both  Matthew  and  Luke  omit  a  certain  amount  of 
material  in  Mark  which,  ex  hypothesi,  lay  before  them,  opens  up  the  two 
alternatives,  viz.  (a)  that  the  omissions  were  deliberate,  or  (b)  that  such 
sections,  though  extant  in  our  canonical  Mark,  were  not  added  to  Mark 
until  after  its  use  by  the  later  synoptists."  James  MofFatt,  Introduction  to 
the  Literature  of  the  New  Testament,  p.  193. 

'  See  James  MofFatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Testamenty 
for  a  modern  and  conservative  presentation  of  the  various  views  of  scholars 
in  regard  to  the  authors  and  contents  of  the  New  Testament. 


58 


A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 


The  Epistles  of  Paul 
to  the  Seven  Churches 


The  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 
The  First  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 
The  Second  Epistle  to  the  Corinthians. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Galatians. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Philippians. 
The  Epistle  to  the  Colossians. 
The  First  Epistle  to  the  Thessalonians. 
The  Second   Epistle  to  the   Thessa- 
lonians. 


/ri.    o    .      J  T^'  .1      [The  First  Epistle  to  Timothy. 
The  Pastoral  Epistles     r^^^  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^  ^^  Timothy. 

oj  l^auL  [The  Epistle  to  Titus. 

jt  n  IT..       r  n     1  fThe  Epistle  to  Philemon  (a  letter 

A  Personal  Letter  of  Paul  {        x         r\      •  \ 

■'  \     about  Unesimus,  a  servant). 

Anonymous — ^The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews. 

The  Epistle  of  James  "to  the  twelve  tribes 

which  are  of  the  Dispersion." 
The  First  Epistle  of  Peter  "to  the  Elect 

who  are  sojourners  of  the  Dispersion." 
The  Second   Epistle  of  Peter  to  them  of 

"like  precious  faith." 
The    First   Epistle  of  John,   a   Christian 

tract. 
The  Second  Epistle  of  John,  the  elder  to 

"the  elect  lady  and  her  children." 
The  Third  Epistle  of  John,  the  elder  unto 

Gaius. 
The  Epistle  of  Jude,  "to  them  that  are 

called,  beloved  in  God  the  Father,  and 

kept  for  Jesus  Christ." 

.         I  The   Revelation   of  John,   to   show   "the 
-Ihe  Apocalypse  |     ^y^^^^^  ^j^.^j^  ^^^^^  ^j^^^j^  ^^^^  ^^  p^^^  „ 


The  Catholic  or 
General  Epistles 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    NEW   TESTAMENT         59 

The  Gospels 

Preserved  as  the  most  Important  of  the  Sacred 
Scriptures  of  the  New  Testament  are  the  four  books 
called,  from  the  word  of  the  Angel  to  the  Shepherds, 
Luke  2:10,  the  "Evangels"  (evayyeXi^ofiaL^  "I  bring 
you  good  tidings,"  see  also  Matthew  4:23,  Mark  1:15) 
or  in  the  Saxon  equivalent  the  "God-spells,"  the  good- 
story,  or  Gospels.  What  was  immediately  back  of 
the  Gospels?  In  the  Apology  of  Aristides  (125-160? 
A.  D.),  discovered  in  a  Syriac  version  on  Mount  Sinai, 
in  1889,  by  Dr.  J.  Rendel  Harris,  and  edited  by  him, 
are  many  statements  concerning  the  early  Christians. 
Aristides  mentions  the  twelve  apostles,  and  says  that 
the  Christians  had  writings  which  they  called  "evan- 
gelic scripture."  This  and  the  statements  of  Papias, 
discussed  below,  are  the  earliest  references  to  what 
were  probably  our  Gospels.  Tatian,  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  second  century,  prepared  a  Diatessaron  or 
Harmony  of  the  four  canonical  Gospels.  Its  purpose 
was  to  give  one  complete  record  of  the  life  and  teachings 
of  Jesus  by  arranging  and  combining  the  four  separate 
accounts. 

The  four  books  assigned  to  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke 
and  John  have  from  early  times,  owing  to  the  nature 
of  their  contents,  been  classified  in  two  groups  as  the 
Synoptic  Gospels,  Matthew,  Mark  and  Luke,  and 
the  Fourth  Gospel,  John,  because  the  last  differs  so 
greatly  in  many  respects  from  the  other  three,  and 
particularly  in  its  religious  philosophy,  in  presenting 
the  person  and  work  of  Jesus.  Clement  of  Alexandria 
(d.  about  220  A.  D.)  said  "that  John,  last  of  all,  per- 
ceiving that  only  outward  and  bodily  facts  were  related 
in  the  existing  Gospels,  being  urged  on  by  the  skilled 


6o  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

in  divine  things,   and  inspired  by  God's  spirit,  com- 
posed a  Spiritual  Gospel."  ^ 

Although  we  are  concerned  in  this  volume  with  a 
presentation  of  some  of  the  facts  concerning  the  Eng- 
lish Bible  and  its  originals  and  relations  as  litera- 
ture, it  will  not  be  out  of  place  to  repeat  here  con- 
cerning the  Gospels  the  following  sentences  from  a 
well-known  book: — "If,  after  a  century  of  modern 
criticism  of  the  Gospels,  it  is  found  that,  despite  all 
differences,  the  four  mutually  supplement  and  mutually 
interpret  one  another,  so  that  from  their  complex  com- 
bination there  emerges  one  narrative,  outlining  a  dis- 
tinct historical  figure,  and  producing  upon  the  mind 
an  irresistible  impression  of  reality,  it  is  difficult  to 
imagine  a  more  convincing  attestation  of  the  records  on 
which  the  Christian  Church  bases  its  faith  in  the  person 
and  work  of  its  Founder  than  is  furnished  by  this  very 
fact."2 

Irenaeus,  Tertullian  and  Clement,  all  of  whom  lived 
towards  the  end  of  the  second  century,  quote  from  the 
four  Gospels.  The  Old  Latin  and  the  Syriac,  (Peshitto,) 
the  oldest  versions  we  have  of  the  New  Testament, 
both  of  which  are  as  early  as  the  second  century,  con- 
tained our  four  Gospels.  These  facts  have  an  important 
bearing  on  the  dates  at  which  the  written  accounts  of 
Jesus  were  prepared. 

Earlier  than  the  written  Gospels  there  must  have 
existed  versions  of  the  incidents  and  words.  Many 
stories  became  current,  which  had  little  or  no  founda- 
tion in  fact,  and  many  spurious  or  apocryphal  gospels 
came  into  existence  quite  early  in  the  history  of  the 

*  Ante-Nicene  Fathers,  vol.  II,  p.  580. 

'  W.  A.  Stevens  and  E.  D.  Burton,  A  Harmony  of  the  Gospels  for  Historical 
Studyy  New  York,  191 1,  p.  iv. 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    NEW   TESTAMENT        6l 

Christian  Church.  Some  of  these  have  been  preserved 
and  may  be  found  in  The  Apocryphal  New  Testament.^ 
They  are  the  Gospel  of  the  Birth  of  Mary,  attributed  to 
Matthew,  the  ProtevangeHon,  attributed  to  James, 
and  often  referred  to  in  the  early  Church  Fathers,  the 
Gospel  of  the  Infancy  of  Jesus  Christ,  purporting  to  be 
accounts  of  Jesus  taken  "from  the  book  of  Joseph  the 
High  Priest,  called  by  some  Caiphas,"  the  Gospel  of 
the  Infancy  of  Jesus  Christ,  attributed  to  Thomas,  the 
Gospel  of  Nicodemus,  also  called  the  Acts  of  Pontius 
Pilate.  There  was  also  a  gospel  to  the  Hebrews,  not 
now  extant.  These  so-called  gospels  are  all  of  them 
early.    There  were  yet  others  later. 

The  differences  between  these  gospels  and  the  four 
contained  in  the  New  Testament  are  so  evident  that 
no  discussion  is  necessary  to  show  why  they  were  not 
also  included.  These  non-canonical  gospels  show, 
however,  something  of  the  mass  of  material  which  soon 
came  to  exist,  both  oral  and  written,  concerning  Jesus. 
It  has  been  conjectured  that  among  the  immediate 
followers  of  Jesus,  and  in  the  various  groups  of  Chris- 
tians, which,  as  time  went  on,  came  to  be  formed,  there 
must  have  been  some  substantially  consistent  and 
uniform  account  of  the  life  and  teachings  that  was  pro- 
mulgated orally  from  the  testimony  of  those  who  had 
actually  seen  and  heard  the  things  whereof  they  spoke. 

*  Printed,  London,  1820,  for  William  Hone  and  reprinted  1906.  Other 
writings  included  in  The  Apocryphal  New  Testament  are  the  Apostles'  Creed 
in  its  ancient  state,  the  Apostles'  Creed  in  its  present  state,  Laodiceans, 
Paul  and  Seneca,  Paul  and  Thecla,  I  Corinthians,  II  Corinthians  (Epistles 
of  Clement),  Barnabas,  Ephesians  (Epistle  of  Ignatius),  Magnesians  (Epistle 
of  Ignatius),  Trallians  (Epistle  of  Ignatius),  Romans  (Epistle  of  Ignatius), 
Philadelphians  (Epistle  of  Ignatius),  Polycarp  (Epistle  of  Ignatius),  Philip- 
pians  (Epistle  of  Polycarp),  The  Shepherd  of  Hermas  I,  II,  and  III.  In  an 
appendix  will  be  found  a  list  of  other  apocryphal  Christian  "Scriptures" 
and  references  to  passages  in  the  Church  Fathers  in  which  they  are  men- 
tioned. 


62  A   BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

In  the  opening  verses  of  Luke  we  have  a  prefatory- 
note  addressed  to  one,  Theophilus,  to  whom  also  the 
book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  is  addressed,  in  which 
mention  is  made  of  a  number  of  different  accounts  of 
the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus,  even  thus  early  in 
existence : — 

"Forasmuch  as  many  have  taken  in  hand  to  draw  up  a 
narrative  concerning  those  matters  which  have  been  fulfilled 
among  us,  even  as  they  delivered  them  unto  us,  who  from 
the  beginning  were  eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word, 
it  seemed  good  to  me  also,  having  traced  the  course  of  all 
things  accurately  from  the  first,  to  write  unto  thee  in  order, 
most  excellent  Theophilus;  that  thou  mightest  know  the 
certainty  concerning  the  things  wherein  thou  wast  in- 
structed.'* 

The  Gospel  of  John  closes  with  these  words: — 

"And  there  are  also  many  other  things  which  Jesus  did, 
the  which  if  they  should  be  written  every  one,  I  suppose  that 
even  the  world  itself  would  not  contain  the  books  that  should 
be  written."    John  21:25. 

This  is  however  doubtless  to  be  taken  with  John's 
idea  of  Jesus  as  the  creative  Logos  of  God,  which  was 
from  the  beginning  with  God,  and  was  God. 

Luke  was  concerned  with  the  human  life  of  Jesus. 
He  consulted  the  best  authorities.  Several  interesting 
inferences  may  be  drawn  from  his  statement,  and  they 
concern  directly  the  literary  background  of  the  New 
Testament. 

I.  The  "eye-witnesses  and  ministers  of  the  word'' 
were  probably  not  the  ones  of  whom  Luke  speaks  as 
the  "many"  who  have  "taken  in  hand  to  draw  up  a 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    NEW   TESTAMENT        63 

narrative,"  doubtless  meaning  a  written  account,   as 
distinguished  from  oral  teachings. 

2.  The  "eye-witnesses  and  ministers"  to  whom 
canonical  Gospels  are  attributed  were  Matthew  and 
John,  who  were  Apostles.  If  Mark  is  the  work,  as  some 
believe,  of  the  John  Mark  mentioned  in  Acts  12:12, 
he  may  have  been  the  "young  man"  of  Mark  14:51 
who  witnessed  the  arrest  of  Jesus,  and  may  have  wit- 
nessed some  other  incidents. 

3.  Luke  probably  cannot  refer  to  what  we  call  the 
apocryphal  gospels,  for  he  speaks  of  these  "narratives" 
as  containing  matters  "fulfilled"  (or  surely  believed) 
among  us,  and  much  that  appears  in  the  apocryphal 
gospels  finds  no  place  in  Luke  or  in  any  other  canonical 
book.  Moreover,  Luke  was  probably  writing  at  a  date 
earlier  than  that  of  any  of  the  apocryphal  gospels. 
"John"  was,  as  Clement  said,  "last  of  all"  and  there- 
fore later  than  Luke. 

Luke  would  probably  not  have  used  the  word  "  many  " 
if  he  had  been  referring  to  Matthew  and  Mark,  although 
there  is  nothing  in  his  statement  that  would  exclude 
them.  Modern  scholars  believe  that  back  of  Luke 
and  Matthew  are  Mark  and  a  source  designated  as  Q. 
The  meaning  probably  is,  as  Dean  Alford  states  it: — 
"that  many  persons,  in  charge  of  Churches,  or  other- 
wise induced,  drew  up,  here  and  there,  statements 
(narratives)  of  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses  and  min- 
isters of  the  word  ...  so  far  as  they  themselves  had 
been  able  to  collect  them." — "It  is  probable  that  in 
almost  every  Church  where  an  eye-witness  preached, 
his  testimony  would  be  taken  down  and  framed  into 
some  narrative,  more  or  less  complete,  of  the  life  and 
sayings  of  the  Lord."  ^    I  John  i  :i-3,  is  written  by  one 

^  Henry  Alford,  New  Testament  for  English  Readers,  Note  on  Luke  1:1-4. 


64  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

who  speaks  of  himself  as  having  both  "seen  and  heard" 
what  he  writes. 

We  may  distinguish  two  states  earlier  than  any 
Gospel  we  possess,  i.  the  oral  accounts  of  eye-witnesses 
and  others,  and,  2.  written  accounts  more  or  less  com- 
plete and  accurate.  The  last  stage  of  the  purely  his- 
torical writing  is  represented  by  the  author  of  Luke, 
who  utilizes  all  existing  sources  of  information  in  the 
preparation  of  a  narrative  that  shall  be  both  orderly 
and  accurate,  concerning  the  things  wherein  Theophilus, 
a  Christian,  had  been  "instructed"  or  catechized. 

Luke  presents  even  to  the  casual  reader  some  very 
interesting  points  of  difference  when  compared  with 
any  other  of  the  Gospels.  Irenaeus  calls  attention  to 
this  fact.^  It  is  Luke  alone  who  tells  of  the  promise  to 
Zacharias  and  his  wife  Elizabeth,  a  kinswoman  of 
Mary's,  of  the  birth  of  John  the  Baptist.  Luke  alone 
tells  of  the  annunciation  to  Mary,  of  the  visit  of  Mary 
to  Elizabeth,  of  the  circumcision  of  John,  and  the 
prophesy  of  Zacharias,  of  the  Angels  and  Shepherds, 
of  the  birth  in  the  manger,  of  the  circumcision,  the 
presentation  in  the  Temple,  of  the  visit  to  Jerusalem 
when  Jesus  was  twelve  years  old,  when  he  disputed 
with  the  doctors  in  the  Temple,  of  his  years  at  Nazareth 
during  which  he  was  subject  to  his  parents,  of  his 
mother's  keeping  in  her  heart  the  incidents  and  sayings 
in  the  life  of  her  son.  Luke  alone  gives  the  Magnificat, 
the  Prophecy  of  Zacharias,  the  Song  of  the  Angels,  and 
the  Song  of  Simeon.  Whence  did  he  obtain  these 
poems.'*  There  are  reasons  for  thinking  as  modern 
critics  do,  owing  to  questions  of  style  and  continuity 
of  the  narrative,  that  Luke  made  use  of  some  earlier 
Palestinian  account,  in  Greek,  or  in  Aramaic,  in  which 

*  AnU-Nicene  Fathers,  vol.  I,  p.  438. 


THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    65 

was  contained  the  material,  found  in  Luke,  but  not  in 
the  other  gospels.  Many  similarities  between  Matthew 
and  Luke  are  attributed  to  a  discourse-source  used 
by  both,  and  known  as  Q,  or  to  the  Matthaean  Logia. 
These  similarities  occur  in  passages  and  sayings  that  are 
not  found  in  the  other  Gospels.  Almost  the  whole 
of  Luke  10-18  is  attributed  to  Q.  There  is  no  corre- 
sponding passage  in  Matthew,  Mark,  or  John,  but 
nearly  all  of  it  is  contained  in  various  passages  in 
Matthew,  which  are  obviously  from  the  same  source. 

There  are  many  other  things  peculiar  to  Luke. 
There  alone  do  we  find  the  story  of  the  Good  Samaritan, 
and  the  incident  of  the  healing  of  Malchus's  ear.  The 
ministry  of  Jesus  and  his  disciples  is  frequently  referred 
to  in  Luke  as  one  of  healing.  It  is  thought  that  this 
is  because  Luke  was  a  physician. 

Matthew  and  Luke,  with  their  genealogies  and  their 
accounts  of  the  birth  and  early  years,  are  in  contrast  to 
Mark,  which  begins  with  the  baptism  of  Jesus  by  John. 
The  concluding  verses  of  Mark  16:9-20,  are  evidently 
not  part  of  the  original  book  but  an  addition  to  supply 
a  portion  that  had  been  lost,  the  verse  16:8,  as  we  have 
it,  ending  with  an  apparently  unfinished  sentence. 
Jerome  said  that  nearly  all  the  Greek  manuscripts  of 
his  time  did  not  contain  the  passage  16:9-20. 

The  Gospel  of  John  differs  fundamentally  from  the 
other  three  but,  like  Mark,  begins  with  the  baptism  by 
John,  having  opened  with  a  passage  about  the  eternal 
Logos,  who  had  appeared  in  the  flesh  as  Jesus  Christ. 
A  statement  of  Irenaeus,  which  was  very  generally 
believed,  because  Luke  was  associated  with  Paul  in  his 
travels  (see  II  Timothy  4:11,  and  Philqmon  v.  24)  is, 
that  "Luke,  the  follower  of  Paul,  set  down  in  a  book 
the  Gospel  preached  by  that  Apostle."     This   state- 


66  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

ment  does  not  agree  with  Luke's  own  statement,  since 
Paul  was  not  "from  the  beginning"  an  "eye-witness," 
and  the  sources  of  information  open  to  Paul  were 
equally  open  to  Luke.  His  statement  that  he  had 
"traced  the  course  of  all  things  accurately  from  the 
first,  to  write  unto  thee  [Theophilus]  in  order,"  is 
significant  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  words 
of  Papias,  quoted  below,  that  Mark  did  not  write  "in 
order." 

The  statement  of  Papias  ^  is  the  starting  point  of  all 
discussion  concerning  the  authorship  of  Mark.  Papias 
who  lived  about  130  a.  d.  claimed  to  have  received 
information  concerning  the  Gospels  from  John  the 
Presbyter.     He  is  quoted  by  Eusebius  as  saying: — 

"This  also  the  Presbyter  said: — 'Mark  who  was  Peter's 
interpreter,  wrote  down  accurately,  though  not  in  order,  all 
that  he  recollected  of  what  Christ  had  said  or  done.  For  he 
was  not  a  hearer  of  the  Lord  nor  a  follower  of  his;  he  followed 
Peter,  as  I  have  said,  at  a  later  date,  and  Peter  adapted  his 
instructions  to  practical  needs,  without  any  attempt  to  give 
the  Lord's  words  systematically.  So  that  Mark  was  not 
wrong  in  writing  down  some  things  in  this  way  from  memory, 
for  his  one  concern  was  neither  to  omit  nor  to  falsify  any- 
thing he  had  heard.'"  Such  is  Papias's  account  of  Mark; 
this  is  what  he  says  about  Matthew: — "So  then  Matthew 
composed  the  Logia  in  the  Hebrew  language,  and  every  one 
interpreted  them  as  he  was  able. "  ^ 

*  For  a  discussion  of  the  statements  of  Papias  and  other  early  writers  see 
Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Testament,  James  Moffatt,  p.  185; 
The  Canon  of  the  New  Testament,  B.  F.  Westcott,  p.  69;  New  Testament  for 
English  Readers,  Henry  Alford,  Introduction  to  the  several  books.  The 
statement  of  Papias  is  found  in  his  works  in  Ante-Nicene  Fathers,  vol.  I, 
pp.  154-155- 

2  Eusebius,  Ecclesiastical  History,  III,  39.  The  Matthaean  Logia  is  prob- 
ably what  is  commonly  called  the  Q  source.  The  original  writing  of  Mark, 
to  which  Papias  refers,  is  known  as  the  Ur-Marcus,  on  which  the  canonical 
Gospel  of  Mark  was  based.  See  James  Moffatt,  Introduction  to  the  Litera- 
ture of  the  New  Testament,  pp.  185-206. 


THE    BACKGROUND    OF    THE    NEW   TESTAMENT         6/ 

Words  of  early  Christian  Fathers  have  been  quoted 
concerning  the  writing  of  each  of  the  four  Gospels. 
Papias  speaks  of  Matthew  and  Mark,  Irenseus  of  Luke, 
and  Clement  of  John. 

The  Sayings  of  Jesus 

The  statement  attributed  to  Papias,  concerning 
certain  Logia  (koyia)  or  "Sayings,"  composed  by 
Matthew,  assumes  new  Interest  in  the  light  of  recent 
discoveries,  which  suggest  wonderful  possibilities.  At 
Oxyrhynchus  in  Egypt  have  been  found  by  Dr.  B.  P. 
Grenfell  and  Dr.  A.  S.  Hunt,  two  leaves  of  papyrus, 
one  In  1897,  the  other  In  1904,  each  of  which  contains 
"Sayings  of  Jesus,"  ^  some  of  which  are  to  be  found  in 
our  Gospels,  while  others  are  not  so  found.  A  frag- 
ment of  an  uncanonical  Gospel  also  was  found  in 
1908.  Another  fragment  from  Oxyrhynchus,  preserved 
in  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  Museum,  contains 
perhaps  the  oldest  known  manuscript  of  any  part  of 
the  New  Testament.  It  Is  probably  of  the  third  century 
and  contains  verses  from  the  first  chapter  of  Matthew. 

The  "Sayings"  found  in  1897  are,  as  translated  from 
the  Greek  In  which  they  are  written: — 

*  B.  P.  Grenfell  and  A.  S.  Hunt,  Sayings  of  Our  Lord,  1897;  New  Sayings 
of  Jesus  and  Fragment  of  a  Lost  Gospel  from  Oxyrhynchus,  1904;  Fragment  of 
an  Uncanonical  Gospel  from  Oxyrhynchus,  igo8,  Oxford  University  Press, 
1908. 

The  Oxyrhynchus  papyri  and  others,  which  have  heen  found  in  great  num- 
bers, and  of  which  only  a  few  concern  directly  the  contents  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament, are  of  importance  in  the  study  of  the  Greek  of  the  New  Testament 
and  also  of  the  Septuagint.  They  show  that  the  idioms  of  so-called  New 
Testament  Greek  are  in  many  cases  simply  those  of  the  colloquial  Greek 
of  the  time.  The  Hebraisms  were  probably  such  as  might  be  expected  in 
Greek  written  by  Jews,  or  in  translations  of  Hebrew  books.  The  Hght 
thrown  on  the  Greek  of  the  Septuagint  and  of  the  New  Testament  by  such 
discoveries  has  led  to  the  writing  of  new  grammars  such  as,  A  Grammar  of 
New  Testament  Greek,  by  J.  H.  Moulton,  Oxford,  1906;  and  Crammatik  der 
Septuaginta^  by  R.  Helbing,  Gottingen,  1907. 


68  A    BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"[Jesus  saith,  Cast  out  first  the  beam  that  is  in  thine  own 
eye],  and  then  shalt  thou  see  clearly  to  cast  out  the  mote  that 
is  in  thy  brother's  eye."    (See  Matthew  7:5,  and  Luke  6:42.) 

"Jesus  saith,  Except  ye  fast  to  the  world,  ye  shall  in  no 
wise  find  the  kingdom  of  God;  and  except  ye  keep  the 
sabbath,  ye  shall  not  see  the  Father." 

"Jesus  saith,  I  stood  in  the  midst  of  the  world,  and  in  the 
flesh  was  I  seen  of  them,  and  I  found  all  men  drunken,  and 
none  found  I  athirst  among  them,  and  my  soul  grieveth  over 
the  sons  of  men,  because  they  are  blind  in  their  heart  [and 
see  not],  poor,  and  know  not  their  poverty." 

"Jesus  saith.  Wherever  there  are  two  they  are  not  without 
God,  and  if  one  is  alone  anywhere,  I  say  I  am  with  him. 
Raise  the  stone,  there  thou  shalt  find  me;  cleave  the  word, 
and  there  I  am."     (Matthew  18:20  is  suggested.) 

"Jesus  saith,  A  prophet  is  not  acceptable  in  his  own  coun- 
try, neither  doth  a  physician  work  cures  upon  them  that 
know  him."  (See  Matthew  13 157;  Mark  6:4;  Luke  4:23-24; 
John  4:44.) 

"Jesus  saith,  A  city  built  on  the  top  of  a  high  hill  and 
firmly  established  can  neither  fall  nor  be  hid."  (See  Matthew 
5:14,  and  7:24-25.) 

"[Jesus  saith]  Thou  hearest  with  one  ear,  but  the  other 
thou  hast  closed." 

The  "Sayings"  found  in  1904  are  written  in  the  back 
of  a  list  of  measurements  of  a  land  surveyor.  As 
translated  from  the  Greek  they  are: — 

"These  are  the  [wonderful?]  words  which  Jesus  the  living 
Lord  spake  [to  his  disciples?]  and  to  Thomas,  and  he  said 
to  them:  Every  one  that  hearkens  to  these  words  shall  never 
taste  of  death."    (See  John  8:51-52.) 

"Jesus  saith,  Let  not  him  who  seeks  .  .  .  cease  until  he 
finds,  and  when  he  finds  he  shall  be  astonished;  astonished, 
he  shall  reach  the  kingdom,  and  having  reached  the  kingdom 
he  shall  rest."    (See  Matthew  6:33,  7:7,  13:44,  Luke  5:9.) 


THE  BACKGROUND  OF  THE  NEW  TESTAMENT    69 

"Jesus  saith,  [Ye  ask,  who  are  those]  that  draw  us  [to  the 
kingdom,  if]  the  kingdom  is  in  heaven? — fowls  of  the  air 
^and  all  the  beasts  that  are  under  the  earth  or  upon  the  earth, 
and  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  [these  are  they  which  draw]  you,  and 
the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  within  you;  and  whosoever  shall 
know  himself  shall  find  it.  [Strive  therefore]  to  know  your- 
selves, and  ye  shall  be  aware  that  ye  are  the  sons  of  the 
[Almighty]  Father;  [and  (?)]  ye  shall  know  that  ye  are  in 
[the  city  of  God?]  and  ye  are  [the  city?]."  (See  Job  12:7-8, 
Luke  17:21,  20:36.) 

"Jesus  saith,  A  man  shall  not  hesitate  .  .  .  to  ask  .  .  . 
concerning  his  place  [in  the  kingdom.  Ye  shall  know]  that 
many  that  are  first  shall  be  last  and  the  last  first  and  [they 
shall  have  eternal  life.]"  (See  Mark  10:31,  IVlatthew  19:30, 
Luke  13 :30,  also  John  3  :i6,  36,  5 :24.) 

"Jesus  saith,  Everything  that  is  not  before  thy  face  and 
that  which  is  hidden  from  thee  shall  be  revealed  to  thee.  For 
there  is  nothing  hidden  which  shall  not  be  made  manifest, 
nor  buried  which  shall  not  be  raised."  (See  Matthew,  10:26, 
Mark  4:22,  Luke  12:2.) 

"His  disciples  question  him  and  say.  How  shall  we  fast 
and  how  shall  we  [pray  (?)]  .  .  .  and  what  [commandment] 
shall  we  keep  ?  Jesus  saith,  ...  do  not  ...  of  truth  .  .  . 
blessed  is  he."  (See  Matthew  6:16,  Luke  ii:i,  for  similar 
situations.) » 

1  The  version  of  "The  Sayings  of  Jesus'*  here  given  Is  that  of  Dr.  G.  A. 
Barton,  and  is  taken  by  permission  of  the  Sunday  School  Union,  from  his 
volume  Archaology  and  the  BibU,  pp.  428-431. 


CHAPTER  IV 

POETIC  FORMS  IN  THE  BIBLE 

Parallelism  of  thought  and  of  structure  in  succes- 
sive lines  had  long  been  recognized  as  the  special  rhetor- 
ical characteristic  of  Hebrew  poetry  as  distinguished 
from  prose.  It  was  not  until  1741,  however,  that  any- 
systematic  study  of  the  subject  seems  to  have  been 
made.  In  that  year  Robert  Lowth,  then  Professor 
of  Poetry  at  Oxford,  afterwards  Bishop  of  London, 
began  a  series  of  lectures,  in  Latin,  entitled  De  Sacra 
Poesi  HehrcBorum  Prcelectiones  Academicce,  They  were 
published  in  1753,  and,  later,  edited  and  published 
in  an  English  version,  which  was  reprinted  a  number 
of  times.  This  was  the  most  important  contribution 
made,  up  to  that  time,  to  the  study  of  the  contents  of 
the  Bible  as  literature,  in  which,  as  in  other  literature, 
a  knowledge  of  form,  and  a  critical  study  of  the  kind 
of  material  used  is  essential  to  interpretation  and 
appreciation. 

Of  Bishop  Lowth's  lectures  his  translator.  Dr.  G. 
Gregory,  said  in  his  Preface: — "  .  .  .  this  work  will 
be  found  an  excellent  compendium  of  all  the  best  rules 
of  taste,  and  of  all  the  principles  of  composition,  illus- 
trated by  the  boldest  and  most  exalted  specimens  of 
genius  (if  no  higher  title  be  allowed  them)  which  antiq- 
uity has  transmitted  to  us;  and  which  have  hitherto  sel- 
dom fallen  under  the  inspection  of  rational  criticism." 
To  Bishop  Lowth  critics  turn  even  yet,  for  what  he 
said,  though  familiar  to  us  now,  had  not  been  said  be- 

70 


POETIC    FORMS    IN   THE    BIBLE  Jl 

fore.  The  most  important  passage  is  Lecture  19,  in 
which  are  found  the  following  statements: — "The 
poetical  conformation  of  the  sentences  which  has  been 
so  often  alluded  to  as  characteristic  of  the  Hebrew 
poetry,  consists  chiefly  in  certain  equality,  resem- 
blance, or  parallelism,  between  the  members  of  each 
period;  so  that  in  two  hnes  (or  members  of  the  same 
period)  things  shall  for  the  most  part  answer  to  things, 
and  words  to  words,  as  if  fitted  to  each  other  by  a 
kind  of  rule  or  measure.  This  parallelism  has  much 
variety  and  many  gradations;  it  is  sometimes  more 
accurate  and  manifest,  sometimes  more  vague  and 
obscure;  it  may,  however,  on  the  whole  be  said  to  con- 
sist of  three  species."  ^  These  are  explained  and  illus- 
trated as  Synonymous,  Antithetic,  and  Synthetic,  or 
Constructive.  Similar  parallelism  is  found  in  Babyl- 
onian and  Egyptian  poetry. 
Examples  are: — 

1 .  Synonymous.  The  second  line,  or  half  line,  repeats 
the  idea  of  the  first. 

"Oh  that  my  vexation  were  but  weighed, 

And  all  my  calamity  laid  in  the  balances!"    Job  6:2. 

2.  Antithetic.  The  second  line  is  a  contrast  to  the 
first. 

"A  soft  answer  tumeth  away  wrath; 

But  a  grievous  word  stirreth  up  anger.'*    Proverbs  15:1. 

3.  Synthetic.  The  second  line  completes  the  thought 
of  the  first. 

"Wine  is  a  mocker,  strong  drink  a  brawler; 
And  whosoever  erreth  thereby  is  not  wise."    Proverbs  20:1. 
*  Robert  Lowth,  Lectures  on  the  Sacred  Poetry  of  the  Flebrezvs,  translated 
from  the  Latin  by  G.  Gregory,  London,  1847,  p.  210, 


72  A   BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Bishop  Jebb  calls  the  introverted  quatrain,  referred 
to  below,  a  fourth  kind  of  parallelism,  and  Dr.  Briggs  ^ 
adds  a  fifth  kind,  which  he  calls  emblematic,  and  illus- 
trates by  such  a  verse  as: — 

"For  lack  of  wood  the  fire  goeth  out; 

And  where  there  is  no  whisperer,  contention  ceaseth." 
Proverbs  26:20. 

and  a  sixth  kind,  which  he  illustrates  by  "the  stairlike 
movement,  especially  characteristic  of  the  Pilgrim 
Psalms,"  Ps.  120-134,  '^^  which  words  of  a  Hne  are  taken 
up  and  repeated  in  the  next  line  as  in  the  following 
example: — 

"He  that  keepeth  thee  will  not  slumber. 
Behold  he  that  keepeth  Israel 
Will  neither  slumber  nor  sleep. 
Jehovah  is  thy  keeper; 

Jehovah  is  thy  shade  upon  thy  right  hand."  Psalm  121, 
3-5. 

No  more  striking  examples  of  parallelism  of  structure 
can  be  found  than  the  "Beatitudes": — 

"Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit, 

For  their's  is  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven. 

Blessed  are  they  that  mourn, 

For  they  shall  be  comforted. 

Blessed  are  the  meek, 

For  they  shall  inherit  the  earth,"  etc.    Matthew  5 :3-io. 

Luke  gives  not  only  the  "Beatitudes,"  but  also  a 
companion  series  of  "Denunciations"  corresponding, 
almost  line  for  line,  with  the  "Beatitudes"  (as  given 
by  Luke)  and  exhibiting  the  same  structure: — 

^  C.  A.  Briggs,  TJu  Study  of  Holy  Scripture,  New  York,  1899,  p.  367. 


POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  73 

"Woe  unto  you  that  are  rich! 
For  ye  have  received  your  consolation. 
Woe  unto  you,  ye  that  are  full  now! 
For  ye  shall  hunger. 
Woe  unto  you,  ye  that  laugh  now! 
For  ye  shall  mourn  and  weep. 

Woe  unto  you,  when  all  men  shall  speak  well  of  you! 
For  in  the  same  manner  did  their  fathers  to  the  false 
prophets."    Luke  6:24-26. 

This  volume  is  concerned  primarily  only  with  such 
characteristics  of  Hebrew  poetry  as  appear  in  the  Eng- 
lish translation.  The  rhetorical  structure  of  Hebrew 
poetry  is  very  simple  when  once  the  principle  of  par- 
allelism is  recognized  and  the  lines  are  printed  sep- 
arately. The  unit  is  the  line,  or  stichos,  which  consists, 
usually,  of  two  quite  distinct  hemistichs,  and  is  there- 
fore frequently  spoken  of  as  a  couplet.  The  combining 
of  lines  in  various  ways  produced  in  Hebrew  poetry, 
as  in  English,  stanzas  and  strophes,  with  recurring 
similarity,  but  not  necessarily  identity,  of  arrangement, 
either  of  clauses  or  of  thought.  In  fact,  absolute  reg- 
ularity or  uniformity  in  the  repetition  of  a  pattern  is 
almost  unknown  in  Oriental  art.  Perfect  symmetry 
is  distasteful  as  is  shown  by  the  variations  introduced 
in  the  patterns  of  rugs  and  also  in  architecture.  This 
is  true  also  of  Oriental  music.  Similarity  of  general 
structure  or  of  thought,  parallelism,  is  character- 
istic, but  not  identity  of  form,  although  the  latter 
occurs. 

Varieties  of  parallelism  in  Hebrew  poetry  are  easily 
found,  but  the  principle  in  all  of  them  is  the  same. 
The  commonest  form  is  the  couplet,  but  the  single 
emphatic  line  occurs,  usually  final,  as  in  Exodus  15:18, 
"Jehovah  shall  reign  for  ever  and  ever,"  or  initial,  as 


74  A    BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

in  Psalm  i8:i,  "I  love  thee,  0  Jehovah,  my  strength." 
The  triplet  may  consist  of  three  synonymous  lines,  or 
of  one  line  antithetic  to  the  other  two,  or  of  a  line,  the 
thought  of  which  is  completed  by  the  other  two.  The 
quatrain  is  a  double  couplet,  with  any  of  the  various 
relations  existing  between  the  lines,  either  as  pairs  or 
singly.  Arrangements  of  five  or  six  lines  sometimes 
occur.  Illustrations  may  easily  be  multiplied,  but  the 
following  will  suffice  to  show  the  manner  in  which 
parallelism  is  used  in  the  Bible,  in  the  New  Testament 
as  well  as  in  the  Old. 
I.  Triplet:— 

1.  Jehovah  bless  thee,  and  keep  thee: 

2.  "Jehovah  make  his  face  to  shine  upon  thee,  and  be 
gracious  unto  thee: 

3.  Jehovah  lift  up  his  countenance  upon  thee,  and  give 
thee  peace."    Numbers  6:24-26. 

1.  "Blessed  is  the  man  that  walketh  not  in  the  counsel  of 
the  wicked 

2.  Nor  standeth  in  the  way  of  sinners, 

3.  Nor  sitteth  in  the  seat  of  scoffers."     Psalm  i:i. 

The  second  is  interesting  because  there  is  in  the  lines 
a  triple  series  of  words,  rising  to  a  climax  in  mean- 
ing, walketh,  standeth,  sitteth;  counsel,  way,  seat; 
wicked,  sinners,  scoffers.  It  illustrates  also  the  pic- 
turesque qualities  of  Hebrew  poetry.  Each  line  is  a 
picture. 

2.  Quatrain: — 

1.  "With  the  merciful  thou  wilt  show  thyself  merciful; 

2.  With  the  perfect  man  thou  wilt  show  thyself  perfect; 

3.  With  the  pure  thou  wilt  show  thyself  pure; 

4.  And  with  the  perverse  thou  wilt  show  thyself  froward.** 
Psalm  18:25-26. 


POETIC    FORMS    IN   THE    BIBLE  75 

3.  Introverted  Quatrain: — 

1.  "My  son  if  thy  heart  be  wise, 

2.  My  heart  will  be  glad  even  mine: 
2.  Yea  my  heart  will  rejoice, 

I.  When  thy  Hps  speak  right  things."    Proverbs  23:15-16. 

Here  the  third  line  repeats  the  thought  of  the  second, 
and  the  fourth  that  of  the  first. 

4.  Double  Triplet: — 

1.  "Ask,  and  it  shall  be  given  you; 

2.  Seek,  and  ye  shall  find; 

3.  Knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you: 

1.  For  every  one  that  asketh  receiveth; 

2.  And  he  that  seeketh  findeth; 

3.  And  to  him  that  knocketh  it  shall  be  opened."  Mat- 
thew 7:7-8. 

5.  Introverted  Triplet: — 

1.  "Remove  far  from  me  falsehood  and  lies; 

2.  Give  me  neither  poverty  nor  riches; 

3.  Feed  me  with  the  food  that  is  needful  for  me; 

3.  Lest  I  be  full,  and  deny  thee,  and  say,  who  is  Jehovah? 
2.  Oi  lest  I  be  poor,  and  steal, 

I.  And  use  profanely  the  name  of  my  God."  Proverbs 
30:8-9. 

Here  the  first  and  last  lines  are  connected  in  thought, 
as  are  the  second  and  fifth,  and  the  third  and  fourth. 

6.  The  following  illustrate  what  is  sometimes  called 
the  "chain  figure"  or  "sorites"  in  which  successive  lines 
are  linked  by  a  repetition  of  words. 

"That  which  the  palmer  worm  hath  left 
Hath  the  locust  eaten; 


76  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

And  that  which  the  locust  hath  left. 
Hath  the  canker-worm  eaten; 
And  that  wliich  the  canker-worm  hath  left 
Hath  the  caterpillar  eaten."    Joel  1 14. 

"How  then  shall  they  call  on  him; 

In  whom  they  have  not  believed  ? 

And  how  shall  they  believe  in  him,  whom  they  have  not 
heard  ? 

And  how  shall  they  hear,  without  a  preacher? 

And  how  shall  they  preach,  except  they  be  sent  V*  Romans 
10:14. 

7.  An  arrangement  of  thought,  in  which  a  general 
idea  stated  at  the  beginning  is  repeated  at  the  end, 
and  is  to  be  understood  as  applying  to  the  intervening 
matter  is  called  the  "envelope  figure"  and  is  exemplified 
in  the  following  passages: —  Psalm  8:1  and  9,  where  the 
intervening  verses  illustrate  and  enforce  the  exclama- 
tion "O  Jehovah,  our  Lord,  How  excellent  is  thy  name 
in  all  the  earth!";  Matthew  7:16-20,  where  the  same  is 
true  of  the  statement  "By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know 
them." 

The  Lord's  Prayer  is  usually  printed,  and  also  read, 
as  though  it  were  prose.  It  is,  however,  an  example  of 
parallelism  of  structure.  Each  of  the  three  petitions 
in  the  opening  division  is  commonly  read  as  though 
it  were  independent.  What  we  really  have  is  an  en- 
velope figure,  the  opening  line,  "Our  Father  which 
art  in  Heaven,"  corresponding  to  "On  Earth  as  it  is  in 
Heaven." 

"Our  father  Which  art  in  heaven, 

Hallowed  be  Thy  name. 

Thy  Kingdom  come. 

Thy  will  be  done 

In  earth,  as  it  is  in  heaven. 


POETIC    FORMS    IN   THE    BIBLE  77 

Give  us  this  day  our  daily  bread, 

And  forgive  us  our  debts,  as  we  forgive  our  debtors, 

And  lead  us  not  into  temptation,  but  deliver  us  from  evil. 

For  thine  is  the  Kingdom, 

And  the  power. 

And  the  glory,  forever.  Amen/' 

The  version  here  given  is  the  King  James  (Matthew 
6:9-13)  and  in  this  arrangement  the  Lord's  Prayer 
appears  as  a  triple  triplet.^  The  Revised  Versions  and 
the  Douay  (Vulgate  text)  omit  the  ascription  at  the 
close  of  the  Prayer,  because  of  manuscript  differences. 
That  the  Lord's  Prayer  was  originally  in  Aramaic, 
in  a  metrical  form,  is  the  conclusion  reached  by  Dr. 
C.  C.  Torrey  in  his  paper  on  A  Possible  Metrical  Orig- 
inal of  the  Lord's  Prayer.'^  His  conclusion  is  that  the 
Greek  version  given  in  Luke  1 1 12-4,  is  a  translation 
from  an  Aramaic  prayer  "truly  metrical,  forming 
regular  verses  of  seven  syllables  each"  and  containing 
also  rhyme. 

Recognition  of  the  principle  of  parallelism  in  struc- 
ture and  in  thought  is  of  prime  importance  in  reading 
not  only  the  poetical  parts  of  the  Bible,  but  also  pas- 
sages that  are  not  poetry,  for  interpretation  may  be 
dependent  upon  the  literary  form  in  which  ideas  are 
cast.     It  makes  clear  in  many  passages  the  meaning, 

*  A  considerable  number  of  prayers  are  preserved  in  the  Bible  and  many 
of  the  most  ancient  inscriptions  discovered  by  the  archaeologists  are  prayers. 
Prayers  will  be  found  in  the  following  chapters:  Genesis  24,  32,  Exodus  32,  33, 
Numbers  12,  Deuteronomy  3,  Judges  16,  I  Samuel  i,  II  Samuel  7,  I  Kings 
8,  II  Kings,  19,  20;  I  Chronicles  4,  II  Chronicles  6,  14,  20,  30,  Ezra  9,  Nehe- 
miah  i,  4,  9,  Proverbs  29,  Isaiah  37,  38,  Jeremiah  14,  Daniel  9,  Jonah  2, 
Habakkuk  3,  Matthew  6,  26,  27,  Luke  11,  18,  22,  23,  John  12,  17,  Acts  i, 
4.  Prayers  are  preserved  also  in  the  Apocrj'pha.  Many  of  the  Psalms  are 
prayers. 

^  Zeitschrijt  fur  Assyriologie,  19 13,  pp.  312-317. 


78  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

which   would   otherwise   be   obscure   as,   for  example, 
in  the  Song  of  Lamech : — 

"For  I  have  slain  a  man  for  wounding  me, 

And  a  young  man  for  bruising  me."    Genesis  4:23. 

This  is  synonymous  parallelism,  and  only  one  man 
was  slain,  not  two,  as  might  otherwise  be  the  meaning. 

An  interesting  variation  of  the  couplet  form  is  found 
in  Deuteronomy  32:25.  This  is  a  good  example  also 
of  the  differences  between  the  King  James  and  the 
American  Revised  Versions.  The  King  James  Version 
is: — 

"The  sword  without,  and  terror  within,  shall  destroy  both 
the  young  man  and  the  virgin,  the  suckling  also  with  the 
man  of  gray  hairs." 

The  American  Revised  Version  reads: — 

"Without  shall  the  sword  bereave, 
And  in  the  chambers  terror; 
It  shall  destroy  both  young  man  and  virgin, 
The  suckling  with  the  man  of  gray  hairs." 

The  scene  represented  is  a  besieged  city,  the  able- 
bodied  inhabitants  of  which  are  outside  fighting,  while 
the  children  and  the  aged  are  within  the  buildings  in 
terror.  By  a  condensing,  which  makes  the  verb 
"destroy,"  do  double  duty,  the  picture  is  confused  in 
the  mind  of  the  reader  until  he  recognizes  the  paral- 
lelism, the  meaning  being: — 

"The  sword  without  shall  destroy  the  young  man  and  the 
virgin:  Terror  within  [shall  destroy]  the  suckling  also  and 
the  man  of  gray  hairs." 


POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  79 

Another  Interesting  example  of  the  value  of  a  rec- 
ognition of  the  structure  in  the  interpretation  of  the 
passage  is  the  familiar: — 

I.  "Give  not  that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs, 

V3.  Neither  cast  your  pearls  before  the  swine, 

C_4.  Lest  haply  they  trample  them  under  their  feet, 

-2.  And  turn  and  rend  you."    Matthew  7:6. 

Here,  as  in  the  other  passage,  are  two  distinct  pic- 
tures, one,  of  dogs  turning  and  rending  the  giver,  the 
other  of  swine  trampling  under  foot  the  gift.  Two 
couplets  have  been  combined  by  inserting  one  between 
the  lines  of  the  other. 

To  these  illustrations  of  the  simpler  varieties  of 
parallelism  we  now  add  several  which  show  the  struc- 
ture of  various  combinations  of  lines  in  stanzas  or 
strophes.  The  following  arrangement  of  Psalms  42 
and  43  as  one  poem,  gives  us  three  stanzas  which  are 
similar,  but  not  identical,  in  structure,  and  which  have 
also  a  variation  in  the  refrain.    The  line: — 

"While  they  continually  say  unto  me,  Where  is  thy  God?" 

is  found  in  stanzas  i  and  2,  and  the  line: — 

"Why  go  I  mourning  because  of  the  oppression  of  the 
enemy?" 

occurs  in  stanzas  2  and  3. 

Psalms  42  and  4^ 
I 
'*As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  water  brooks, 
So  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God. 
My  soul  thirsteth  for  God,  for  the  living  God: 


8o  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

When  shall  I  come  and  appear  before  God? 

My  tears  have  been  my  food  day  and  night, 

While  they  continually  say  unto  me,  Where  is  thy  God  ? 

These  things  I  remember,  and  pour  out  my  soul  within  me. 

How  I  went  with  the  throng,  and  led  them  to  the  house  of 

God, 
With  the  voice  of  joy  and  praise,  a  multitude  keeping  holy- 
day." 

"Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul? 
And  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me? 
Hope  thou  in  God;  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him 
For  the  help  of  his  countenance." 


"0  my  God,  my  soul  is  cast  down  within  me: 
Therefore  do  I  remember  thee  from  the  land  of  the  Jordan, 
And  the  Hermons,  from  the  hill  Mizar. 
Deep  calleth  unto  deep  at  the  noise  of  thy  waterfalls: 
All  thy  waves  and  thy  billows  are  gone  over  me. 
Yet  Jehovah  will  command  his  loving  kindness  in  the  day 

time; 
And  in  the  night  his  song  shall  be  with  me. 
Even  a  prayer  unto  the  God  of  my  life. 
I  will  say  unto  God  my  rock.  Why  hast  thou  forgotten  me? 
Why  go  I  mourning  because  of  the  oppression  of  the  enemy? 
As  with  a  sword  in  my  bones,  mine  adversaries  reproach  me. 
While  they  continually  say  unto  me.  Where  is  thy  God?" 

"Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul? 
And  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me? 
Hope  thou  in  God;  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him. 
Who  is  the  help  of  my  countenance  and  my  God." 

3 
"Judge  me,  O  God,  and  plead  my  cause  against  an  ungodly 
nation: 
O  deliver  me  from  the  deceitful  and  unjust  man. 


POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  8l 

For  thou  art  the  God  of  my  strength;  why  hast  thou  cast  me 

ofF? 
Why  go  I  mourning  because  of  the  oppression  of  the  enemy? 
Oh  send  out  thy  light  and  thy  truth;  let  them  lead  me: 
Let  them  bring  me  unto  thy  holy  hill,  and  to  thy  tabernacles. 
Then  will  I  go  unto  the  altar  of  God, 
Unto  God  my  exceeding  joy; 
And  upon  the  harp  will  I  praise  thee,  O  God,  my  God." 

"Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul? 
And  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me? 
Hope  thou  in  God;  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him. 
Who  is  the  help  of  my  countenance,  and  my  God." 

The  New  Testament,  as  we  have  it,  is  in  Greek,  but 
it  is  in  parts,  in  the  Gospels,  probably  based  on,  or 
actually  translated  from,  Aramaic  originals.  We  find 
therefore  in  the  Greek  the  characteristic  parallelisms 
of  Hebrew.    Notice  the  parallelism  of  strophes  in : — 

"Every  one  therefore  that  heareth  these  words  of  mine,  and 

doeth  them, 
Shall  be  likened  unto  a  wise  man, 
Who  built  his  house  upon  the  rock: 
And  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came, 
And  the  winds  blew,  and  beat  upon  that  house; 
And  it  fell  not:  for  it  was  founded  upon  the  rock." 

"And  every  one  that  heareth  these  words  of  mine  and  doeth 

them  not, 
Shall  be  likened  unto  a  foolish  man, 
Who  built  his  house  upon  the  sand; 
And  the  rain  descended,  and  the  floods  came, 
And  the  winds  blew,  and  smote  upon  that  house; 
And   it   fell:   and    great  was  the   fall   thereof,"    Matthew 

7:24-27. 


82  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  two  Strophes  are  antithetical.  In  the  first  pic- 
ture the  action  of  the  elements  upon  the  house  is  con- 
tinuous, "beat  upon,"  in  the  second,  not  continuous, 
"smote,"  because  the  house  fell.  This  is  indicated  by 
the  words  used  in  the  original. 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  example  in  the  New 
Testament  of  parallelism,  and  also  of  stanza  formation, 
is  found  in  Matthew  25:31-46,  which,  as  arranged  by 
Dr.  Briggs,^  is  composed  of  five  stanzas  of  six  lines  each, 
with  a  concluding  couplet,  apparently  added  by  the 
Evangelist,  as  a  summary  or  comment.  The  stanzas 
are: — i.  Verses  31-33.  2.  Verses  34-36.  3.  Verses 
37-40.  4.  Verses  41-43.  5.  Verses  44-45.  Summary- 
verse  46. 

The  fifth  stanza  is,  in  the  Gospel,  condensed,  but, 
if  written  out  in  full,  would  correspond  line  for  line 
with  the  third,  to  which  it  is  in  antithesis,  as  are  the 
lines  of  stanza  four  to  those  of  stanza  two.  The  first 
stanza  is  a  general  description  of  the  scene  of  Judgment. 

Matthew  2^:^1-46 

"  But  when  the  Son  of  man  shall  come  in  his  glory,  and  all 

the  angels  with  him, 
Then  shall  he  sit  on  the  throne  of  his  glory: 
And  before  him  shall  be  gathered  all  the  nations: 
And  he  shall  separate  them  one  from  another, 
As  the  shepherd  separateth  the  sheep  from  the  goats; 
And  he  shall  set  the  sheep  on  his  right  hand,  but  the  goats 

on  the  left." 

"Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand, 
Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom 
[Which  was]  prepared  for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the 
World : 

*  The  Study  of  Holy  Scripturf,  pp.  405-6. 


POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  83 

For  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  gave  me  to  eat;  I  was  thirsty  and 

ye  gave  me  drink; 
I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed 

me; 
I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me;  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye  came 


"Then  shall  the  righteous  answer  him,  saying, 

Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  hungry,  and  fed  thee?  or  athirst  and 

gave  thee  drink? 
And  when  saw  we  thee  a  stranger,  and  took  thee  in?  or  naked, 

and  clothed  thee? 
And  when  saw  we  thee  sick  [and  visited  thee?]  or  in  prison 

and  came  unto  thee? 
And  the  King  shall  answer  and  say  unto  them,  Verily  I  say 

unto  you, 
Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto  one  of  these  my  brethren,  even 

these  least,  ye  did  it  unto  me." 

"Then  shall  he  say  also  unto  them  on  the  left  hand. 

Depart  from  me,  ye  cursed,  into  the  eternal  fire 

Which  is  prepared  for  the  devil  and  his  angels: 

For  I  was  hungry,  and  ye  did  not  give  me  to  eat;  I  was 

thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  no  drink; 
I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  not  in;  naked,  and  ye 

clothed  me  not; 
Sick  [and  ye  visited  me  not]  and  in  prison,  and  ye  visited 


"Then  shall  they  also  answer,  saying. 

Lord,  when  saw  we  thee  hungry,  [and  did  not  give  thee  to 

eat?]  or  athirst,  [and  did  not  give  thee  drink?] 
Or  [when  saw  we  thee]  a  stranger,  [and  took  thee  not  in  ?]  or 

naked,  [and  clothed  thee  not?] 
Or  [when  saw  we  thee]  sick,  [and  did  not  visit  thee?]  or  in 

prison,  and  did  not  minister  unto  thee? 


84  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Then  shall  he  answer  them,  saying,  Verily  I  say  unto  you, 
Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  these  least,  ye  did  it 
not  unto  me." 

"And  these  shall  go  away  into  eternal  punishment: 
But  the  righteous  into  eternal  life." 

Professor  W.  G.  Elmslie  has  called  attention  to  the 
structure  of  the  story  of  Creation  as  told  in  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis.  He  says: — "Looking  at  our  anal- 
ysis of  their  contents,  we  perceive  that  the  six  days 
fall  into  two  parallel  sets  of  three,  whose  members 
finely  correspond.  The  first  set  presents  us  with  three 
vast  tenements  or  habitations,  and  the  second  set 
furnishes  these  with  occupants.  The  first  day  gives 
us  the  sphere  of  light;  the  fourth  day  tenants  it  with 
sun,  moon  and  stars.  The  second  day  presents  the 
realm  of  air  and  water;  the  fifth  day  supplies  the  in- 
habitants, birds  and  fishes.  The  third  day  produces 
the  habitable  dry  land,  and  the  sixth  day  stocks  it 
with  the  animals  and  man.  The  idea  of  this  arrange- 
ment is,  on  the  face  of  it,  literary  and  logical.  It  is 
chosen  ior  its  comprehensive,  all-inclusive  completeness. 
To  declare  of  every  part  and  atom  of  Nature  that  it  is 
the  making  of  God,  the  author  passes  in  procession 
the  great  elements  or  spheres  which  the  human  mind 
everywhere  conceives  as  making  up  our  world,  and 
pronounces  them  one  by  one  God's  creation.  Then 
he  makes  an  inventory  of  their  entire  furniture  and 
contents,  and  asserts  that  all  these  likewise  are  the 
work  of  God.  For  his  purpose,  which  is  to  declare  the 
universal  creatorship  and  the  uniform  creaturehood  of 
all  Nature,  the  order  and  classification  are  unsurpassed 
and  unsurpassable.  With  a  masterly  survey  that 
includes  everything,  and  omits  nothing,  he  sweeps  the 


POETIC    FORMS    IN   THE    BIBLE  85 

whole  category  of  created  existence,  collects  the  scat- 
tered leaves  into  six  congruous  groups,  enclosed  each 
in  a  compact  and  uniform  binding,  and  then  on  the 
back  of  the  numbered  and  ordered  volumes  stamps  the 
great  title  and  declaration  and  they  are  one  and  all, 
in  every  jot,  and  title,  and  shred,  and  fragment,  the 
works  of  their  Almighty  Author,  and  of  none  besides."  ^ 
It  will  be  observed  that  on  the  third  and  sixth  days  there 
are  two  creative  acts  each,  the  second  of  which  marks 
a  climax,  that  on  the  third  day  being  the  climax  of 
inanimate  creation,  vegetation,  that  on  the  sixth  day, 
the  climax  of  creation,  man. 

In  Hebrew  poetry  as  it  appears  in  the  common 
translations  of  the  Bible  as  well  as  in  special  renderings, 
we  find  that  there  are  a  number  of  interesting  points  of 
similarity  to  some  forms  of  English  poetry,  especially 
to  the  parallelism  and  repetition  in  folk-song  and  ballad. 
Dr.  George  Adam  Smith,  quoting,  in  translation,  from 
Professor  Dalman's  Palastinischer  Diwan,  gives  us  the 
following  examples  of  parallelism  in  Palestinian  folk- 
songs as  sung  to-day:  ^  — 

"Thou,  that  sleepest  the  sleep  of  the  lamb, 
And  the  line  on  thy  lips  is  sweet; 
Were  I  not  shy  of  my  parents'  face, 
I  would  run  and  would  kiss  thee  asleep." 

"  Thou  that  sleepest  the  sleep  of  the  sheep, 
And  the  line  on  thy  shoulders  is  blue; 
Were  I  not  shy  in  the  face  of  the  guests, 
I  would  run  and  would  kiss  thee  asleep." 

iW.  G.  Elmslie,  "The  First  Chapter  of  Genesis,"  Thg  ConUmporary 
Reviewy  vol.  52,  pp.  823-825. 

2  For  a  discussion  of  this  subject  see  G.  A.  Smith,  The  Early  Poetry  of 
Israel  in  its  Physical  and  Social  OriginSy  London,  1912,  p.  13-20. 


86  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Dr.  Smith  also  reminds  us  that  our  English  "folk — 
songs  and  nursery  rhymes  are  full  of  it": — 

"Over  the  water  and  over  the  sea, 
And  over  the  water  to  Charhe." 

"Old  King  Cole  was  a  merry  old  soul. 
And  a  merry  old  soul  was  he." 

**I  love  sixpence,  pretty  little  sixpence; 
I  love  sixpence,  better  than  my  life." 

Parallelism  similar  to  that  in  Hebrew  poetry  is 
frequently  found  in  English  lyrics  and  ballads,  as  in 
the  following: — 

"Open  the  temple  gates  unto  my  love. 
Open  them  wide  that  she  may  enter  in. 
And  all  the  posts  adorn  as  doth  behove, 
And  all  the  pillars  deck  with  garlands  trim." 

Spenser,  Epithalamion. 

"Water,  water  everywhere, 
And  all  the  boards  did  shrink; 
Water,  water  everywhere. 
Nor  any  drop  to  drink!" 

Coleridge,  The  Ancient  Mariner. 

"Britannia  needs  no  bulwarks. 
No  towers  along  the  steep. 
Her  march  is  on  the  mountain  wave. 
Her  home  is  on  the  deep." 

Campbell,  Ye  Mariners  of  England. 

"Why  are  we  weighed  upon  with  heaviness,  • 
And  utterly  consumed  with  sharp  distress, 
While  all  things  else  have  rest  from  weariness? 


•       POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  87 

All  things  have  rest:  why  should  we  toil  alone? 
We  only  toil,  who  are  the  first  of  things, 
And  make  perpetual  moan. 
Still  from  one  sorrow  to  another  thrown.'* 

Tennyson,  The  Lotos-Eaters, 

This  poetry  resembles  Hebrew  because  of  its  short 
simple  sentences,  the  sense  ending  with  the  line.  The 
last  passage  resembles  certain  Hebrew  poems  in  which 
a  word  or  phrase  from  one  line  is  used  in  the  next 
thus  linking  them  together,^  as  in  the  Pilgrim  Psalms, 
120-134. 

Differences  of  rhythm,  so  far  as  these  affect  length 
of  line  and  rhetorical  structure,  appear  in  the  English 
versions  of  Biblical  poetry.  The  first  four  Lamenta- 
tions, for  example,  have  a  special  rhythm  and  differ  in 
this  respect  from  the  fifth.  The  first  four  are  alphabetic 
poems,  and  are  in  the  elegiac  meter,  3x2  better  called 
the  "pathetic,"  ^  the  characteristic  of  which  is  the  in- 
equality of  the  two  parts  of  the  line,  the  second  being 
shorter  than  the  first,  as  for  example,  the  following: — 

"How  doth  the  city  sit  solitary, 

that  was  full  of  people! 
She  is  become  as  a  widow, 

that  was  great  among  the  nations! 
She  that  was  a  princess  among  the  provinces, 

is  become  tributary."    Lamentations  1:1. 

The  fifth  Lamentation,  although  of  twenty-two 
verses,  is  not  alphabetic  and  is  of  different  rhythm, 
the  two  parts  of  the  line  being  of  equal  length,  and 
rhetorical  value  as: — 

*  See  above,  p.  75,  the  "  chain  figure." 

^  The  Hebrew  word  kinahy  "  lamentation,"  is  used  of  this  rhythm  which 
may  also  express  joy,  or  any  other  emotion. 


88  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Remember,  O  Jehovah,  what  is  come  upon  us: 
Behold  and  see  our  reproach/* 

"Our  fathers  sinned,  and  are  not; 

And  we  have  borne  their  iniquities."    Lamentations  5:1,  7. 

The  second  part  of  the  line  in  the  pathetic  meter  is 
usually  the  completion  of  the  thought  of  the  first,  and 
not  a  parallelism  of  thought.  This  difference  is  to  be 
seen  in  the  lines  from  Lamentations  just  quoted. 

Varieties  are  thus  seen  to  exist  in  Hebrew  rhythms. 
The  simplest  form  consists  in  balancing  the  two  parts, 
or  hemistichs,  of  a  line  by  placing  in  each  the  same 
number  of  accents.  The  number  of  syllables  to  an 
accent  may  vary  from  one  to  even  four  or  five,  and 
there  may  be  a  secondary  accent.  This  is  true  in  gen- 
eral of  English  verse  also,  as  Coleridge  stated  in  the 
Preface  to  Christabel,  a  poem  in  which  the  number  of 
syllables  varies  from  four  to  twelve,  with  the  same  time 
length  for  the  lines. ^ 

The  acrostic  or  alphabetic  psalms  are  especially 
important  in  the  study  of  Hebrew  meter  because, 
owing  to  the  succession  of  letters  of  the  alphabet,  the 
beginning  and  end  of  each  line  can  be  fixed  definitely.^ 
Other  verse  divisions  are  not  so  easily  determined,  be- 
cause the  older  poetry  has  come  down  to  us  written 
continuously  as  prose,  and  not  divided  into  lines. 
Lines  vary  in  length  according  to  the  number  of  accents, 
not  the  number  of  syllables.  The  commonest  measure 
is  the  trimeter,  but  there  are  also  tetrameters,  pen- 

*  This  subject  Is  discussed,  on  the  basis  of  music,  by  Sidney  Lanier  In 
The  Science  of  English  Ferse^  New  York,  1890,  pp.  195-198. 

^  This  fact  was  noted  and  discussed  by  Bishop  Lowth  In  the  Preliminary 
Dissertation  to  his  translation  of  Isaiah.  Isaiahy  a  New  Translation^  London, 
1848,  14th  ed.,  pp.  iii-viii. 


POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  89 

tameters  and  hexameters,  and  combinations  of  these, 
sometimes  in  the  same  poem. 

The  twenty-third  Psalm  is  an  example  of  stanza 
structure,  which  is  concealed  by  the  manner  in  which 
it  is  usually  printed,  even  in  the  Revised  Versions. 
The  stanzas  are  in  different  meters,  being  respectively, 
trimeter,  tetrameter  and  pentameter.  As  translated 
and  arranged  by  Dr.  C.  A.  Briggs,^  who  has  by  hyphens 
joined  the  words  of  each  accent  group  in  Hebrew,  the 
Psalm  appears  as  follows: — 

Psalm  23 

I 

"Yahweh  is-my-shepherd :  I-cannot-want. 
In-pastures  of-green-grass  He-causeth-me-to-lie-down; 
Untowaters  of- refreshment  He-leadeth-me; 
Me-myself  He-restoreth  .  .  . 


"  He-guideth-me  In-paths  of-righteousness  for-his-name's- 
sake. 
Also  when-I-walk  in-the-valley  of-dense-darkness 
I-fear-not  evil,  for-Thou-art  with-me: 
Thy-rod  and-Thy-stafF  they  comfort-me. 

3 
"  He-prepareth  before-me  a-table  in-the-presence-of  my- 
adversaries; 
Has-He-anointed  with-oil  my-head;  my-cup  is-abundance. 
Surely-goodness   and-mercy   pursue-me    all-the-days  of- 

my-life, 
And-I-sh all-return  (to-dwell)-in-the-house-of  Yahweh  for- 
length  of-days." 

1  The  Study  of  Holy  Scripture,  p.  384. 


90  A    BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  effect  of  Hebrew  rhythm  may  be  obtained,  but 
not,  of  course,  the  tone-color,  by  reading  aloud  these 
poems  translated,  as  nearly  as  possible,  in  the  meters  of 
the  originals.^  The  following  ode  is  in  the  pathetic 
meter  3x2,  found  also  in  Lamentations  1-4: — 

Isaiah  4.0:1-2 

"Comfort  ye,  comfort  ye  my  people, 
Saith  your  God. 
Speak  to  the  heart  of  Jerusalem 
And  call  to  her. 

"  How  that  her  service  is  fulfilled, 
Her  guilt  made  good; 
That  she  has  received  from  the  hands  of  Yahwe 
Full  double  for  her  sins." 

An  example  of  the  3x3  measure  is  the  following  ode: 

Isaiah  40:6-8 

"Hark!  one  saying,  cry! 
And  I  said,  What  shall  I  cry.? — 
All  that  is  flesh  is  grass, 
And  all  its  beauty  Hke  the  bloom  of  the  field. 

"The  grass  dries,  the  blossom  fades. 
If  the  breath  of  Yahwe  do  blow  on  it; 
The  grass  dries,  the  blossom  fades. 
But  our  God's  word  shall  stand  forever." 

The  2x2  measure,  with  3X2  in  the  middle  of  the 
poem,  is  found  in  this  ode: — 

*  The  poems  are  used  by  the  kind  permission  of  my  colleague  Dr.  Tames 
Alan  Montgomery,  and  are  taken  from  his  unpublished  version  of  Isaiah 
4CH36  in  the  original  metres. 


POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  9I 

Isaiah  41:21-24 

"Bring  on  your  case! 
Demands  Yahwe. 
Advance  your  proofs! 
Demands  Jacob's  King. 

"  Let  them  approach  and  inform  us 
Of  the  things  which  shall  happen; 
The  causes — what  are  they? — announce, 
That  we  may  give  heed ! 

**  Or  what  is  to  come  declare, 
That  we  know  their  result! 
Announce  what  comes  hereafter. 
That  we  know  ye  are  gods! 

"  Yea  do  good  or  do  evil, 
That  we  wonder  and  fear! 
Behold  ye  are  nil. 
And  your  work  is  naught!" 

The  pathetic  measure  3  X2  in  stanzas  of  five  lines  each 
is  exemplified  in  the  ode: — 

Isaiah  62:4-Q 

"Thou  no  more  wilt  be  called  Forsaken. 

Nor  Lonely  thy  land; 
But  called,  My  Delight  is  in  Her, 

And  Married  thy  land; 
For  in  thee  will  Yahwe  delight. 

And  thy  land  will  be  married. 
For  as  a  young  man  marries  a  virgin. 

So  thy  builder  will  marry  thee; 
And  with  the  joy  of  the  groom  o'er  the  bride. 

Thy  God  will  delight  in  thee. 


92  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"  On  thy  battlements,  O  Jerusalem, 

Have  I  stationed  Watchers; 
All  day  and  all  night  long. 

They  are  never  silent. 
Ye,  Yahwe's  Remembrancers 

Take  ye  no  rest. 
And  never  give  ye  Him  rest, 

Until  He  establish. 
And  until  he  set 

Jerusalem  a  praise  in  the  earth! 

"  By  his  right  hand  has  sworn  Yahwe, 

And  by  the  arm  of  His  might: 
No  more  will  I  give  thy  grain 

As  food  to  thy  foes, 
Nor  shall  strangers  drink  thy  new  wine, 

Whereon  thou  hast  toiled; 
But  those  who  gamer  shall  eat  it, 

And  praise  Yahwe, 
And  those  who  gather  shall  drink  it 

In  My  holy  confines." 

Of  the  sublime  ode,  familiar  as  the  fifty-third  chapter 
of  Isaiah,  Dr.  Montgomery  says  that  "in  its  original 
form  it  had  probably  fifteen  stanzas  of  a  distich  apiece. 
The  meter  is  trimeter,  3X3,  as  in  the  first  two  Servant 
Songs,  but  in  some  lines  the  pathetic  meter,  3x2,  ap- 
pears, at  all  events  at  the  end  of  stanza  8.  In  addition 
to  the  ethical  and  theological  interest  of  the  ode  comes 
the  dramatic  charm  of  its  composition.  It  may  be 
divided  into  three  acts.  In  the  first,  52:13-15,  is 
sketched  the  exaltation  of  the  Servant  from  his  pro- 
found misery  to  be  the  wonder  of  peoples  and  kings, 
Yahwe  being  the  speaker.  In  the  second,  53:1-10  the 
Gentiles,  by  a  fine  bit  of  dramatic  art,  are  made  to 
tell  the  story  in  the  form  of  self-reproachful  confession; 


POETIC    FORMS    IN   THE    BIBLE  93 

they  saw  the  whole  sad  drama  enacting,  but  thought 
naught  about  it.  Probably  in  53:11  the  Epilogue  be- 
gins, in  which  Yahwe  pronounces  the  triumph  of 
Israel,  given  him  as  his  reward  for  voluntary  self- 
sacrifice."  As  translated  by  Dr.  Montgomery  the 
ode  is : — 

Isaiah  ^2:1^-^3:12 


Behold  My  Servant  will  prosper, 
He  will  rise,  be  exalted  on  high. 
As  many  were  astounded  before  him, 
So  ...  . 


"  His  figure  was  marred  from  man's  shape. 
And  his  form  from  human  likeness. 
Yet  many  peoples  will  tremble, 
Before  him  Kings  will  be  silenced. 

3 
"  For  what  was  ne'er  told  them  they  see, 
And  what  they  ne'er  heard  they  discern. 
Who  can  believe  our  news, 
And  who  marked  the  arm  of  Yahwe  .^ 

4 
"  For  before  us  he  grew  up  like  a  sapling 
Or  a  root  from  a  drought-stricken  land; 
Without  form,  without  beauty  to  look  at, 
No  sight  for  us  to  delight  in, 

5 
*'  Despised  and  outlawed  of  men, 
Sorrow's  man  and  acquainted  with  sickness; 


94  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Like  one  from  whom  men  hide  the  face, 
Despised,  and  we  gave  him  no  thought. 


"  Yet  surely  our  sickness  he  bore, 
And  he  our  sorrows  did  carry; 
While  we — we  accounted  him  stricken, 
Plagued  of  God  and  afflicted. 

7 
"  Yea  he  was  pierced  for  our  faults, 
For  our  trespasses*  sake  was  he  bruised; 
The  chastisement  for  our  peace  was  upon  him. 
And  by  his  stripes  is  healing  made  ours. 

8 

"  We  all  like  sheep  have  ofFstrayed, 
Each  one  his  own  way  turning. 
And  Yahwe  did  inflict  upon  him 
The  sin  of  us  all. 

9 
"  Oppressed  was  he  and  afflicted, 
Yet  he  never  opened  his  mouth. 
Like  a  sheep  that  is  led  to  the  slaughter. 
As  a  ewe  with  her  shearers  is  dumb. 

lO 

"  By  force  he  was  judged  and  taken; 
And  his  way,  who  is  there  regards  it.? 
Cut  off  from  the  land  of  the  living, 
Smitten  to  death  for  our  sin. 

II 

"  And  they  made  his  grave  with  the  wicked, 
Along  with  the  transgressors  his  tomb; 


POETIC    FORMS    IN    THE    BIBLE  95 

Despite  that  he  did  no  wrong, 

And  deceit  was  not  found  in  his  mouth. 


12,   13,   14 

"  And  it  was  Yahwe's  will  to  bruise  him  ...  so  that  if  he 
should  make  his  life  a  guilt-offering,  he  would  see  a  posterity, 
would  prolong  his  days,  and  the  will  of  Yahwe  would  prosper 
in  his  hand.  From  the  travail  of  his  soul  he  will  see,  he 
will  be  satisfied;  by  his  knowledge  My  Servant  will  jus- 
tify .  .  .  many,  and  their  sins  he  will  bear. 

"  Therefore  he  will  inherit  among  many, 
And  the  spoil  he  will  divide  with  the  strong. 

15 

"  Because  he  poured  out  his  soul. 
And  among  the  sinners  was  counted. 
Yet  he  bore  the  fault  of  many. 
And  for  sinners  makes  intervention." 

The  emotional  element  of  poetry  causes  modifica- 
tions in  the  manner  and  forms  of  expression.  Whether 
there  was  or  was  not  rhyme,  other  than  accidental, 
or  occasional,  in  Hebrew  poetry  is  a  subject  on  which 
critics  do  not  quite  agree.  A  statement  of  Professor 
Torrey  is  very  suggestive  in  this  connection  for  there 
is  in  it  the  idea,  which  must  be  borne  in  mind  in  any 
treatment  of  Hebrew  literature,  that  what  we  have 
in  the  Bible  is  only  a  small  part  of  Hebrew  writing, 
and  it  may  be  that  rhyme  was  common  enough  in 
kinds  of  poetry  not  included  in  the  Bible.  "The 
Hebrews,  in  the  very  small  fragment  of  their  literature 
known  to  us  make  hardly  any  use  of  rhyme  in  poetry, 
seeming  to  regard  it  as  too  cheap  a  device  to  be  em- 
ployed in  serious  compositions.     Now  and  then,  espe- 


96  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

cially  in  prayers  and  other  formulae  suitable  for  popular 
recitation  rhyme  appears.  Thus  Judges  16:24  which 
Moore  (com.)  calls  *a  hymn  formed  upon  a  single 
rhyme.'  The  repeated  rhyme  in  the  first  verses  of 
Psalm  14  was  probably  designed.  The  great  poet  of 
Isaiah  40-66,  who  had  an  unusually  strong  feeling 
for  the  sound  of  words  occasionally  drops  into  rhyme 
for  a  moment."  ^  In  the  English  versions  this  does  not 
appear. 

^  C.  C.  Torrey,  "A  Possible  Metrical  Original  of  the  Lord's  Prayer/* 
Ztitschrift  jUr  Assyriologie^  19 13,  p.  315. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  USES  AND  SOURCES  OF  IMAGERY  AND  ALLUSION  IN 
THE  BIBLE 

In  reading  the  Bible  we  must  always  bear  in  mind 
the  fact  that  it  has  come  to  us  from  an  Oriental  people 
whose  modes  of  life  and  manner  of  thought  were  deter- 
mined largely  by  their  race  and  environment  and  there- 
fore differ  in  some  respects  from  those  of  the  Western 
world.  If  one  has  not  already  had  this  fact  impressed 
on  his  mind  by  actual  contact  with  Orientals,  he  will 
readily  be  brought  to  realize  the  immense  importance 
of  it  in  the  study  of  the  Bible  by  reading  such  a  book 
as  The  Syrian  Christ,  the  author  of  which  says  truly: — 
"You  cannot  study  the  life  of  a  people  successfully 
from  the  outside.  You  may  by  so  doing  succeed  in 
discerning  the  few  fundamental  traits  of  character 
in  their  local  colors,  and  in  satisfying  your  curiosity 
with  surface  observations  of  the  general  modes  of  be- 
havior; but  the  little  things,  the  common  things,  those 
subtle  connectives  in  the  social  vocabulary  of  a  people, 
those  agencies,  which  are  born  and  not  made,  and  which 
give  a  race  its  rich  distinctiveness,  are  bound  to  elude 
your  grasp.  There  is  so  much  in  the  life  of  a  people 
which  a  stranger  to  that  people  must  receive  by  way 
of  unconscious  absorption."  ^  "And  it  is  those  common 
things  of  Syrian  life,  so  indissolubly  interwoven  with 
the  spiritual  truths  of  the  Bible  which  cause  the  Western 
readers  of  holy  writ  to  stumble  and  which  rob  those 

*  A.  M.  Rihbany,  The  Syrian  Christy  Boston,  19 16,  p.  7. 
97 


98  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

truths  for  them  of  much  of  their  richness.  By  sheer 
force  of  genius,  the  aggressive  systematic  Anglo-Saxon 
mind  seeks  to  press  into  logical  unity  and  creedal 
uniformity  those  undesigned,  artless,  and  most  natural 
manifestations  of  Oriental  life,  in  order  to  '  under- 
stand the  Scriptures.'  "  To  the  Oriental  the  Annuncia- 
tion was  "in  perfect  harmony  with  the  prevailing  modes 
of  thought  and  the  current  speech  of  the  land" — "I  do 
not  know  how  many  times  I  heard  it  stated  in  my 
native  land  [Syria]  and  at  our  own  fireside  that  heavenly 
messengers  in  the  form  of  patron  saints  or  angels 
came  to  pious,  childless  wives,  in  dreams  and  visions 
and  cheered  them  with  the  promise  of  maternity." 
"To  the  Orientals  *the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of 
God'  and  the  stars  reveal  many  wondrous  things  to 
men."  "Deeps  beyond  deeps  are  revealed  through 
that  dry,  soft  and  clear  atmosphere  of  the  *land  of 
promise,'  yet  the  constellations  seem  as  near  to  the 
beholder  as  parlor  lamps."  "So  great  is  the  host  of  the 
stars  seen  by  the  naked  eye  in  that  land  that  the  people 
of  Syria  have  always  likened  a  great  multitude  to  the 
stars  of  heaven  or  the  sand  of  the  sea."  ^ 

Ordinary  ideas  of  the  Oriental  often  seem  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  extraordinary,  demanding  analysis  and  ex- 
planation. The  physical  characteristics  of  Palestine 
and  the  customs  of  the  inhabitants  are  the  natural 
reasons  for  many  of  the  modes  of  expression,  and  figures 
of  speech  employed  in  the  Bible,  which  present  in- 
teresting questions  not  only  in  regard  to  the  source  oi 
the  imagery,  but  also  in  regard  to  the  constant  use  of  it. 

Much  of  the  finest  poetry  of  the  Bible  is  contained 
in  single  lines  or  couplets,  in  which  the  poet  by  his  use 
of  imagery,  or  allusion,  rises  into  the   higher  regions 

*  A.  M.  Rihbany,  Thf  Syrian  Christ,  pp.  II,  12,  31,  32. 


IMAGERY   AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  99 

of  the  Imagination,  and  gives  us  a  wonderfully  beautiful 
and  significant  picture.  The  following  verses  Illustrate 
the  use  of  familiar  sights  of  Palestine.  They  tell  of  the 
great  out-of-doors  world  so  characteristic  of  the  Bible : — 

"The  trees  of  Jehovah  are  filled  with  moisture. 
The  cedars  of  Lebanon  which  he  hath  planted; 
Where  the  birds  make  their  nests: 

As  for  the  stork,  the  fir-trees  are  her  house."  Psalm  104: 
16-17. 

"As  willows  by  the  water-courses."    Isaiah  44:4. 

"A  tree  planted  by  the  streams  of  water."    Psalm  i  :3. 

"For  he  grew  up  before  him  as  a  tender  plant,  And  as  a 
root  out  of  a  dry  ground."    Isaiah  53 :2. 

*Tn  the  morning  they  are  like  grass  which  groweth  up, 
In  the  morning  it  flourisheth,  and  groweth  up;  In  the  evening 
it  is  cut  down  and  withereth."    Psalm  90:5-6. 

"Canst  thou  bind  the  cluster  of  the  Pleiades,  Or  loose  the 
bands  of  Orion?"    Job  38:31. 

"He  giveth  snow  like  wool;  He  scattereth  the  hoar  frost 
like  ashes.  He  casteth  forth  his  ice  hke  morsels:  Who  can 
stand  before  his  cold  ?  He  sendeth  out  his  word  and  melteth 
them:  He  causeth  his  wind  to  blow,  and  the  waters  flow." 
Psalm  147:16-18. 

"The  grass  withereth,  the  flower  fadeth;  But  the  word  of 
our  God  shall  stand  forever."    Isaiah  40:8. 

"We  do  all  fade  as  a  leaf."    Isaiah  64:6. 

"The  fading  flower  of  his  glorious  beauty."    Isaiah  28:4. 

"As  a  lily  among  thorns.  So  is  my  love  among  the  daugh- 
ters."   Song  of  Solomon  2:2. 

"  He  feedeth  his  flock  among  the  lilies."    Song  of  Solomon 

6:3. 


lOO  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"And  his  heart  trembled,  and  the  heart  of  his  people,  As 
the  trees  of  the  forest  tremble  with  the  wind."    Isaiah  7:2. 

"I  smote  you  with  blasting  and  with  mildew  and  with  hail 
in  all  the  work  of  your  hands."    Haggai,  2:17. 

The  ordinary  figures  of  speech  used  in  the  Bible  re- 
quire no  special  discussion,  but  there  is  one  figure  which 
is  used  constantly  with  the  result  of  increasing  greatly 
the  appeal  to  the  imagination  by  presenting,  sometimes 
in  considerable  detail,  a  dramatic  picture  instead  of 
an  abstract  idea.  The  common  name  of  this  figure  is 
"personification,"  which  usually  means  that  inanimate 
objects  or  abstract  ideas  are  spoken  of  as  though  they 
were  persons.  The  use  of  this  figure  is  characteristic 
of  the  writings  of  Dickens,  for  example,  and  gives  them 
much  of  their  highly  imaginative  character.  As  em- 
ployed in  the  Bible,  the  figure  is  better  described  by 
its  Greek  name  "prosopopoeia,"  for,  in  one  of  its  most 
important  uses,  it  consists,  not  in  the  endowing  of 
inanimate  objects,  or  abstractions,  with  personality, 
but  in  representing  an  actual  person  as  present,  or  as 
speaking,  when  this  will  add  force  or  vividness  to  what 
is  said.  The  eff'ect  is  usually  very  beautiful  as  in  these 
examples : —  ^ 

"Mercy  and  truth  are  met  together; 
"Righteousness    and    peace    have    kissed    each    other." 
Psalm  85:10. 

"Then  justice  shall  dwell  in  the  wilderness; 
"And    righteousness   shall    abide   in   the   fruitful    field." 
Isaiah  32:16. 

"The  deep  saith,  It  is  not  in  me; 

"And  the  sea  saith,  It  is  not  with  me."    Job  28:14. 

"Doth  not  wisdom  cry, 

"And  understanding  put  forth  her  voice?"    Proverbs  8:1. 


IMAGERY   AND   ALLUSION    IN   THE    BIBLE  lOI 

These  give  us  dramatic  scenes.  There  are  persons, 
and"  there  iiJ  acLiOii.  This  sort  of  prosopopoeia  is 
common  enough.  There  is,  however,  another  sort, 
equally  common,  which,  though  not  generally  so  thought 
of,  is  really  a  literary  device  to  increase  the  force  of 
what  is  said.  It  consists  in  putting  a  fictitious  but 
appropriate  sp'eeth'nirtas^'thre-TTiumir  of  a-r^^  person,  as 
Thucydides  did  in  writing  his  History  of  the  Peloponne- 
sian  War.  It  is  asserted  by  critics  that  the  speeches  of 
Paul,  in  Acts,  are  of  this  kind.^  This  second  variety 
of  prosopopoeia  is  found  in  the  Song  of  Deborah, 
Judges  5,  which  is  a  song  of  triumph,  containing  a 
series  of  pictures.  We  see  Jehovah  marching  "out 
of  the  field  of  Edom,"  and  the  earth  trembling,  and 
the  mountains  quaking  at  his  presence  (vs.  4-5).  We 
see  also  the  street  or  road,  with  people  on  it,  riding  on 
white  asses,  sitting  on  rich  carpets,  or  walking  by  the 
way  (v.  10).  We  see  the  battle  (vs.  19-23),  the  rout, 
and  then  the  terrible  scene  in  the  tent  (vs.  24-27).  The 
description  of  the  fall  of  Sisera  is  for  power  unexcelled 
in  literature: — 

"He  asked  for  water,  and  she  gave  him  milk; 

She  brought  him  butter  in  a  lordly  dish. 

She  put  her  hand  to  the  tent-pin, 

And  her  right  hand  to  the  workmen's  hammer; 

And  with  the  hammer  she  smote  Sisera, 

She  smote  through  his  head; 

Yea,  she  pierced  and  struck  through  his  temples. 

At  her  feet  he  bowed,  he  fell,  he  lay; 

At  her  feet  he  bowed,  he  fell; 

Where  he  bowed,  there  he  fell  down  dead."   Judges,  5 125-27. 

*  See  Percy  Gardner,  Cambridge  Biblical  Essays^  London,  1909,  pp.  381- 
419.    Essay  XII,  "The  Speeches  of  St.  Paul  in  Acts." 


I02  A   BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Of  those  closing  lines  Lowell  wrote: —  ^  "Are  we  not 
made  to  see  as  with  our  eyes  the  slow  collapse  of  Sisera's 
body,  as  life  and  will  forsake  it,  and  then  to  hear  his 
sudden  fall  at  last  in  the  dull  thud  of  *he  fell  down  dead,' 
where  every  word  sinks  lower  and  lower,  to  stop  short 
with  the  last?" 

And  now  we  come  to  the  example  of  prosopopoeia, 
by  which  the  poet  suddenly  turns  our  thoughts  to 
another  scene  in  a  distant  place.  The  man  lying  there 
dead  had  a  devoted  mother,  proud  of  her  son,  and  at 
this  very  moment  eagerly  awaiting  his  return  in  triumph 
bringing  his  share  of  the  spoils  of  battle.  Using  the 
device  known  well  to-day,  and  employed  with  great 
effect  by  those  who  represent  plays  by  means  of 
moving-pictures,  we  are  not  merely  reminded  of  the 
anxious  mother,  actually  far  away,  but  we  are  made 
to  see  her,  with  her  attendants,  peering  out  through 
the  lattice,  and  not  only  see  her,  but  hear  the  words 
in  which  she  tells  her  wise  ladies  what  spoils  Sisera  will 
probably  bring  home: — 

"Through  the  window  she  looked  forth,  and  cried, 
The  mother  of  Sisera  cried  through  the  lattice, 
*Why  is  his  chariot  so  long  in  coming.? 
Why  tarry  the  wheels  of  his  chariots.?' 
Her  wise  ladies  answered  her, 
Yea  she  returned  answer  to  herself, 
*Have  they  not  found,  have  they  not  divided  the  spoil? 
A  damsel,  two  damsels  to  every  man; 
To  Sisera  a  spoilof  dyed  garments, 
A  spoil  of  dyed  garments  embroidered, 
Of  dyed  garments  embroidered  on  both  sides,  on  the  necks 
of  the  spoil  ?  * "    Judges,  5 128-30. 

Here,   as   in   the   companion   picture,   we   have   the 
*  In  his  essay  on  MUtorCs  Areopagitica. 


IMAGERY  AND   ALLUSION    IN   THE    BIBLE  IO3 

description  proceeding  gradually  to  a  climax.  Does 
the  poet  wish  us  to  understand  that  this  is  the  record 
of  an  actual  conversation?  Not  at  all.  The  whok 
scene  is  described  as  it  is  to  make  vivid  the  picture, 
to  make  the  reader  an  eye-witness  of  both  scenes. 

The  same  kind  of  prosopopoeia  is  employed  re- 
peatedly in  Psalms  where  the  actual  words  of  Jehovah 
purport  to  be  given  in  passages  in  which  the  poet  is 
simply  expressing  what  he  believed  to  be  the  thought 
of  Jehovah.  This  putting  of  words  into  the  form  of  a 
direct  speech  increases  greatly  both  the  picturesque 
and  the  dramatic  features,  in  which  the  Hebrew  poet 
delighted.  The  change  of  person,  and  consequently 
of  speaker,  is  a  feature  of  many  Psalms  that  is  too  often 
practically  ignored  by  readers.  As  an  example  we  may 
take  Psalm  91  TnwEich  the  "I"  of  the  second  verse  is 
one  man  speaking  to  another  man,  the  "thee"  of  the 
third  verse.  Beginning  with  the  fourteenth  verse  is  a 
different  "I,"  who  is  Jehovah,  soliloquizing  as  he  looks 
down  from  heaven  on  the  two  men  and  hears  what 
is  said.  The  poet  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  quoting 
literally  an  actual  speech  of  Jehovah.  He  makes 
wonderfully  impressive  the  attitude  of  Jehovah  to- 
wards men  by  giving  us  a  speech  in  the  first  person. 
A  similar  dramatic  use  of  the  first  person  occurs  for 
example,  in  these  lines: — 

"Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom, 
With  dyed  garments  from  Bozrah?" 


"I  that  speak  in  righteousness,  mighty  to  save."     Isaiah 
63:1. 

Characteristic_pf  Hebrew  poetry  is  its  out-of-doors 
setting.     It  is  redolent  of  the  fields,  gives  us  pictures 


Id4  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

in  almost  every  line  of  something  in  nature  upon  which 
the  eyes  of  the  poet  were  accustomed  to  rest,  or  inter- 
prets the  scenes  and  natural  features  of  Palestine  as  the 
work  of  God  who  created  all  things.  The  general 
aspects  of  the  starry  heavens,  the  sun  and  the  moon, 
the  changes  in  the  sky,  suggest  the  power  and  also 
mystery  of  God.  Light  and  darkness,  day  and  night, 
the  changes  of  the  seasons,  storms,  clouds,  rain,  the 
sea,  rivers,  floods  common  among  mountains,  snow,  ice, 
the  dew,  these  all  are  used  as  illustrations  of  pros- 
perity and  adversity,  knowledge  and  ignorance,  hap- 
piness and  calamity,  and  other  conditions  and  events 
in  the  lives  of  men  and  of  nations.  Much  of  the  use 
made  of  nature  and  of  great  events  is  not  strictly  fig- 
urative. It  is  rather  allusion  with  an  implied  com- 
parison or  teaching. 

The  Story  of  Creation  is  ever  in  the  mind  of  the  Bible 
poet.    Of  this  examples  will  be  found  in: — 

"O  Jehovah,  our  Lord, 
How  excellent  is  thy  name  in  all  the  earth, 
Who  hast  set  thy  glory  upon  the  heavens!  .  .  . 
When  I  consider  thy  heavens,  the  work  of  thy  fingers, 
The  moon  and  the  stars  which  thou  hast  ordained; 
What  is  man  that  thou   art  mindful  of  him.?"    Psalm 
8:1,3,  etc. 

"The  Heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God; 

And  the  firmament  showeth  his  handiwork."  ^    Psalm  19:1. 

"  By  terrible  things  thou  wilt  answer  us  in  righteousness, 

O  God  of  our  salvation, 

Thou  that  art  the  confidence  of  all  the  ends  of  the  earth, 

^  The  meaning  of  this  Psalm  is  discussed  by  Ruskin  in  Modern  Painttrs^ 
Part  VII,  at  the  close  of  chapter  IV,  The  Angel  of  the  Sea.  He  says,  "We  saw 
long  ago,  how  its  [Nature's]  various  powers  of  appeal  to  the  mind  of  men 
might  be  traced  to  some  typical  expression  of  Divine  attributes." 


IMAGERY   AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  I05 

And  of  them  that  are  afar  off  upon  the  sea: 

Who  by  his  strength  setteth  fast  the  mountains, 

Being  girded  about  with  might: 

Who  stilleth  the  roaring  of  the  seas, 

The  roaring  of  their  waves, 

And  the  tumult  of  the  peoples."    Psalm  65  :S-7- 

When  Jesus  wished  to  impress  upon  his  disciples  the 
folly  of  worry  about  the  morrow  he  said : — 

"Behold  the  birds  of  the  heaven,  that  they  sow  not,  neither 
do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  bams;  and  your  heavenly  Father 
feedeth  them.  .  .  .  Consider  the  lilies  of  the  field,  how  they 
grow;  they  toil  not,  neither  do  they  spin:  yet  I  say  unto  you, 
that  even  Solomon  in  all  his  glory  was  not  arrayed  like  one 
of  these.  But  if  God  doth  so  clothe  the  grass  of  the  field, 
which  today  is,  and  tomorrow  is  cast  into  the  oven,  shall 
he  not  much  more  clothe  you,  O  ye  of  little  faith.?"  Mat- 
thew 6:26-30. 

In  all  these  passages  God  is  mentioned  as  the  Creator 
and  controller  of  the  universe. 

Common  scenes  are  used  as  figures,  or  analogies,  to 
illustrate  moral  or  spiritual  truth.  Jesus,  telling  his 
disciples  that  their  duties  and  opportunities  were  at 
hand,  said: — 

"Lift  up  your  eyes,  and  look  on  the  fields,  that  they  are 
white  already  unto  harvest."    John  4:35. 

For  illustrations  which  should  help  to  make  clear  the 
doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  Paul  turns  to 
the  fields  and  to  the  heavens : — 

"...  and  that  which  thou  sowest,  thou  sowest  not  the 
body  that  shall  be,  but  a  bare  grain,  it  may  chance  of  wheat, 
or  of  some  other  kind;  but  God  giveth  it  a  body  even  as  it 


I06  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

pleased  him,  and  to  each  seed  a  body  of  its  own.  .  .  .  There 
are  also  celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial:  but  the  glory 
of  the  celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is  an- 
other. There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  another  glor>^  of 
the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the  stars;  for  one  star  dif- 
fereth  from  another  star  in  glory."     I  Corinthians  15:37-41. 

Of  the  profitable  life  Paul  says : — 

"He  that  soweth  sparingly  shall  reap  also  sparingly;  and 
he  that  soweth  bountifully  shall  reap  also  bountifully."  II 
Corinthians  9:6. 

And  of  the  inevitability  of  results  from  our  lives,  he 
says : — 

"Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap." 
Galatians  6:7. 

James  writes: — 

"For  the  sun  ariseth  with  the  scorching  wind,  and  wither- 
eth  the  grass;  and  the  flower  thereof  falleth,  and  the  grace  of 
the  fashion  of  it  perisheth:  so  also  shall  the  rich  man  fade 
away  in  his  goings."    James  i :ii. 

Peter,  writing  of  men  who  devote  their  lives  to  sin, 
calls  them: — 

"springs  without  water,  and  mists  driven  by  a  storm." 
II  Peter  2:17. 

Jude  speaks  of  men  who  "  defile  the  flesh,  and  set  at 
nought  dominion"  as: — 

"hidden  rocks  .  .  .  shepherds  that  without  fear  feed 
themselves;  clouds  without  water,  carried  along  by  winds; 
autumn  trees  without  fruit,  twice  dead,  plucked  up  by  the 


IMAGERY   AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  I07 

roots;  wild  waves  of  the  sea,  foaming  out  their  own  shame; 
wandering  stars."    Jude,  12,  13. 

To-day,  as  in  the  times  of  Abraham,  of  David,  and  of 
Jesus,  the  -  shepherd  and  his  flocks  are  characteristic 
of  the  land,  and  the  singing  and  piping  goes  on  just 
as  it  has  gone  on  for  thousands  of  years.  "Can  any- 
thing be  more  poetic  than  this  life  of  the  Syrian  shep- 
herd !  It  ought  to  be  religious  too.  Far,  far  away,  out 
on  the  lone  mountain,  with  the  everlasting  hills  around, 
and  the  heaven  above,  pure,  blue,  high  and  still, — there 
go  and  worship  free  from  the  impertinence  of  human 
rhetoric  ...  in  spirit  and  in  truth  worship — in  solemn 
silence  and  soul-subduing  solitude  worship  the  most 
high  God  in  his  temple  not  made  with  hands."  ^ 

Scarcely  any  detail  of  the  shepherd's  life  is  omitted 
in  the  many  allusions  to  it  in  the  Bible.  Psalm  23  and 
John  10:1-29,  are  true  to  the  life  of  the  shepherd  and  the 
sheep. 

Isaiah,  ch.  28,  closes  with  these  lines  describing  the 
work  of  the  farmer: — 

"Give  ye  ear  and  hear  my  voice; 

Hearken  and  hear  my  speech. 

Doth  he  that  ploweth  to  sow  plow  continually? 

Doth  he  continually  open  and  harrow  his  ground  ? 

When  he  hath  levelled  the  face  thereof, 

Doth  he  not  cast  abroad  the  fitches,  and  scatter  the  cummin, 

And  put  in  the  wheat  in  rows,  and  the  barley  in  the  ap- 
pointed place, 

And  the  spelt  in  the  border  thereof? 

For  his  God  doth  instruct  him  aright, 

And  doth  teach  him. 

For  the  fitches  are  not  threshed  with   a    sharp  threshing 
instrument, 
*  W.  M.  Thomson,  The  Land  and  the  Book,  London,  1889,  p.  204. 


I08  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Neither  is  a  cart  wheel  turned  about  upon  the  cummin; 

But  the  fitches  are  beaten  out  with  a  staff, 

And  the  cummin  with  a  rod. 

Bread  grain  is  ground, 

For  he  will  not  be  always  threshing  it: 

And  though  the  wheel  of  his  cart  and  his  horses  scatter  it, 

He  doth  not  grind  it." 

The  parable  of  the  sower,  in  Matthew,  13,  with 
its  interpretation,  the  preparation  of  the  heart,  as  the 
plowing  of  fallow  land;  Hosea  10:12,  the  preacher,  as 
the  laborer  in  the  field;  I  Corinthians  3:9,  death,  as  the 
reaper;  Psalm  90:6,  the  wicked  as  the  stubble;  Isaiah 
47:14,  trials,  as  the  sifting  of  the  wheat;  these  and  many 
other  references  are  familiar  examples  of  figurative  uses 
of  farming. 

Threshing  and  grinding  are  common  figures,  as  is 
also  "the  chaff  which  the  wind  driveth  away,"  Psalm 
2:4.  The  winepress  too  is  referred  to,  and  in  one  of 
the  most  exalted  passages,  already  referred  to  in  another 
connection,  in  Isaiah,  we  read: — 

"Who  is  this  that  cometh  from  Edom, 

With  dyed  garments  from  Bozrah  ? 

This  that  is  glorious  in  his  apparel, 

Marching  in  the  greatness  of  his  strength? 

*  I  that  speak  in  righteousness  mighty  to  save,* 

Wherefore  art  thou  red  in  thine  apparel, 

And  thy  garments  like  him  that  treadeth  in  the  winevat? 

*I  have  trodden  the  winepress  alone; 

And  of  the  peoples  there  was  no  man  with  me: 

Yea,  I  trod  them  in  mine  anger, 

And  trampled  them  in  my  wrath; 

And  their  lifeblood  is  sprinkled  upon  my  garments, 

And  I  have  stained  all  my  raiment, 

For  the  day  of  vengeance  was  in  my  heart, 


IMAGERY   AND   ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  I09 

And  the  year  of  my  redeemed  is  come. 
And  I  looked,  and  there  was  none  to  help; 
And  I  wondered  that  there  was  none  to  uphold; 
Therefore  mine  own  arm  brought  salvation  unto  me; 
And  my  wrath,  it  upheld  me, 
And  I  trod  down  the  peoples  in  mine  anger, 
And  made  them  drunk  in  my  wrath. 

And  I  poured  out  their  lifeblood  on  the  earth.' "    Isaiah 
63:1-6. 

The  vineyard  and  vine-growers  are  used  often  as 
figures,  for  example,  in  Isaiah  ch.  5,  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
John  ch.  15.  Other  occupations  of  Palestine  are  likewise 
similarly  used,  as  that  of  the  builder,  I  Corinthians  3  :io; 
the  fuller,  Malachi  3:2,  Mark  9:3;  the  refiner  of  silver, 
Isaiah  48:10,  Malachi  3:3;  the  merchant,  Isaiah  47:15, 
Matthew  13:45.  From  the  life  of  the  shepherd,  and 
that  of  the  farmer  and  of  the  vine-grower  comes  much 
of  the  material  and  also  the  inspiration  of  the  Hebrew 
poetry.  This  was  pointed  out  long  ago  by  Bishop  Lowth 
to  whom  all  subsequent  writers  on  the  subject  are  in- 
debted. He  said: — "the  sacred  poets,  in  illustrating 
the  same  subject,  make  a  much  more  constant  use  of 
the  same  imagery  than  other  poets  are  accustomed  to; 
and  this  practice  has  a  surprising  effect  in  preserving 
perspicuity."  ^  The  point  of  this  is  not  that  the 
Hebrew  poet  makes  use  of  the  daily  occupations  of  his 
neighbors  for  purposes  of  simile  or  metaphor,  but  that 
a  definite  meaning  has  come  to  be  associated  with  the 
incidents  of  those  daily  occupations,  so  that  the  rela- 
tion of  the  shepherd  to  his  flock,  the  farmer  to  his 
land  and  crops,  and  the  vine-grower  to  his  vineyard 
and  its  products,  are  constantly  thought  of  in  connection 
with  the  idea  of  the  relation  of  Israel's  God  to  his  chosen 

*  Lectures  on  the  Sacred  Poetry  of  the  Hebrews^  P-  ?!• 


no  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

people.  This  is,  in  general,  true  of  almost  all  natural 
objects  and  scenes.  God  is  seen  in  nature  everywhere 
as  its  Creator: — 

"Who  hath  measured  the  waters  in  the  hollow  of  his  hand, 

And  meted  out  heaven  with  the  span, 

And  comprehended  the  dust  of  the  earth  in  a  measure, 

And  weighed  the  mountains  in  scales, 

And  the  hills  in  a  balance?" 

"  Lift  up  your  eyes  on  high 

And  see  who  hath  created  these, 

That  bringeth  out  their  host  by  number; 

He  calleth  them  all  by  name; 

By  the  greatness  of  his  might,  and  for  that  he  is  strong  in 

power. 
Not  one  is  lacking."    Isaiah  40:12,  26. 

The  processes  of  nature  both  manifest  and  illustrate 
his  relation  to  peoples  and  to  individuals.  Nature 
never  became  to  the  Hebrew  a  mere  matter  of  formal 
illustration,  as  it  became  to  the  English  poets  of  the 
seventeenth  century,  nor  was  there  ever  anything 
Wordsworthian  in  Hebrew  poetry.  God  was  above  all, 
and  controlled  and  regulated  both  nature  and  man. 
He  did  not  reveal  himself  to  man  through  nature  in  any 
Wordsworthian  sense  because,  to  the  Hebrew,  God  re- 
vealed himself  directly.  He  talked  personally  with 
Abraham,  with  Moses,  with  Joshua,  with  Samuel  and 
with  others.  No  intermediation  of  nature  was  thought 
of,  although  the  heavens  did  "declare  the  glory  of 
God."  To  the  prophets  he  spoke  directly,  and  they, 
as  his  ambassadors,  spoke  to  the  people  to  whom  they 
were  sent.  There  was  no  "pathetic  fallacy"  about 
the  Hebrew  poet's  idea  of  nature.     God  clothed  the 


IMAGERY   AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  III 

grass,  and  arrayed  more  gloriously  than  Solomon  the 
lilies  of  the  field,  Matthew  6:28,  but  how  God  did  this 
was  a  mystery  to  the  Hebrew.  He  did  not  profess  to 
understand  it.  Attempts  to  explain  the  processes  of 
nature,  and  the  conclusion  that  they  are  beyond  human 
understanding,  are  set  forth  in  such  remarkable  utter- 
ances as  we  find  in  Psalms  104  and  139,  and  particularly 
in  the  closing  chapters,  38-42,  of  Job.  Job's  words 
represent  the  Hebrew  attitude  towards  nature: — 

**I  know  that  thou  canst  do  all  things 
And  that  no  purpose  of  thine  can  be  restrained."    Job 
42:2. 

The  larger  natural  features  of  Palestine  play  an  im- 
portant part  in  Hebrew  poetry.  "Among  the  moun- 
tains of  Palestine,  the  most  remarkable,  and  con- 
sequently the  most  celebrated  in  the  sacred  poetry, 
are  Mount  Lebanon  and  Mount  Carmel;  the  one, 
remarkable  as  well  for  its  height  as  for  its  age,  magni- 
tude, and  the  abundance  of  the  cedars  which  adorned 
its  summit,  exhibiting  a  striking  and  substantial  appear- 
ance of  strength  and  majesty;  and  the  other,  rich  and 
fruitful,  abounding  with  vines,  olives  and  delicious 
fruits,  in  a  most  flourishing  state  both  by  nature  and 
cultivation,  and  displaying  a  delightful  appearance 
of  fertility,  beauty  and  grace.  The  different  form  and 
aspect  of  these  two  mountains  is  most  accurately  de- 
fined by  Solomon,  when  he  compares  the  manly  dig- 
nity with  Lebanon  and  the  beauty  and  delicacy  of  the 
female  with  Carmel."  ^ 

"His  aspect  is  like  Lebanon,  excellent  as  the  cedars." 
The  Song  of  Solomon  5:15. 

*  Lowth,  Lectures  on  the  Sacred  Poetry  of  the  Hebrews,  p.  75. 


112  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Thy  head  upon  thee  is  like  Carmel, 
And  the  hair  of  thy  head  Hke  purple: 
The  King  is  held  captive  in  the  tresses."    The  Song  of 
Solomon,  7:5. 

It  was  from  the  top  of  Carmel  overlooking  the  sea 
that  Elijah's  servant  saw  the  *^  cloud  out  of  the  sea,  as 
small  as  a  man's  hand!"  I  Kings  18:44.  Mt.  Hermon, 
with  its  double  peak  (the  reason  probably  for  its  name 
appearing  in  Hebrew  sometimes  plural  or  dual)  lofty, 
snow  clad,  covered  often  by  clouds  and  mist  gives  us 
"the  Dew  of  Hermon,  that  cometh  down  upon  the 
mountains  of  Zion."  Psalm  133:3.  Numerous  are  the 
mountains  that  are  mentioned  in  the  Bible,  and  im- 
portant are  the  events  recorded  in  connection  with  them. 
Calvary,  Ebal,  Ephraim,  Gilboa,  Gilead,  Gerizim,  Hor, 
Horeb,  Moriah,  Nebo,  Olives,  Paran,  Pisgah,  Seir,  Sinai, 
Tabor,  Zion, — What  ideas  and  associations  do  many  of 
these  suggest! 

To  the  list  of  njountains  we  may  add  a  similar  list  of 
valleys,  Achor,  AjaTdft,  Baca,  Berachah,  Elah,  Eshcol, 
Gibeon,  Hinnom,  Jehoshaphat,  Megiddo,  Rephaim, 
Shaveh,  Shittim,  Siddim,  Sorek,  Succoth,  but,  it  will 
be  noted  at  once  that  the  mountain  tops,  and  not  the 
valleys,  were  the  scenes  of  the  greatest  events. 

The  peaceful,  well-watered  valleys  are  often  in  the 
poet's  mind,  as  are  also  the  many  wildernesses  or  wild 
sparsely-settled  places  used  as  pasture.  The  idea  that 
a  leveling  of  the  land  was  a  thing  greatly  to  be  desired 
seems  to  be  contained  in  the  words  of  Isaiah  40:3-4, 
quoted  in  Luke  3:4-5: — 

"The  voice  of  one  that  crieth, 

Prepare  ye  in  the  wilderness  the  way  of  JeJiovah, 

Make  level  in  the  desert  a  highway  for  our  God. 


IMAGERY   AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  II3 

Every  valley  shall  be  exalted, 

And  every  mountain  and  hill  shall  be  made  low; 

And  the  uneven  shall  be  made  level, 

And  the  rough  places  a  plain: 

And  the  glory  of  Jehovah  shall  be  revealed. 

And  all  flesh  shall  see  it  together; 

For  the  mouth  of  Jehovah  hath  spoken  it." 

The  numerous  caves  which  exist  in  the  mountains 
of  Palestine  played  an  important  part  in  the  lives  of 
many  individuals,  such  as  Lot,  who  with  his  two  daugh- 
ters dwelt,  for  safety,  in  a  cave.  Genesis  19:30;  Abra- 
ham, who  purchased  the  cave  of  Machpelah  as  a  tomb, 
Genesis  23:9;  the  five  Kings,  who  hid  in  a  cave  at 
Makkedah,  Joshua,  10:16;  the  people  who  hid  in  caves 
for  protection  from  the  Philistines,  I  Samuel  13:6; 
David,  who  hid  in  the  cave  of  Adullam,  I  Samuel  22:1; 
II  Samuel  23:13;  Saul,  whose  life  was  spared  by  David, 
in  the  cave  at  En-gedi,  I  Samuel  24:10;  the  prophets, 
whom  Obadiah  hid  by  fifties  in  a  cave,  I  Kings  18:4; 
Lazarus,  whose  tomb  was  a  cave,  John  n  :38;  the  people 
who  were  driven  to  caves  by  persecution,  Hebrews 
11:38,  see  also  Isaiah  2:19. 

These  caves  are  frequently  in  the  minds  of  the 
poets,  especially  in  reference  to  refuge  from  danger. 
There  is  of  course,  at  times,  the  idea  of  the  ancient 
cities  of  refuge,  Numbers  35:11,  but  those  were  only 
for  the  shedders  of  blood,  while  the  idea  of  a  general 
refuge  is  much  broader  as  in  Psalms  31:3,  71:3, 
94:22. 

With  the  idea  of  the  desert,  through  which  the  people 
had  traveled  in  the  Exodus,  the  edges  of  which  ex- 
tended to  the  eastern  borders  of  Palestine,  and  of  the 
desert  tracts  in  Palestine  itself,  is  associated  the  beauti- 
ful figure  of  Psalm  91:1. 


114  A    BOOK   ABOUT   TH£    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

*'He   that   dwelleth    in   the    secret    place    of    the   Most 

High 
Shall  abide  under  the  shadow  of  the  Almighty.'* 

We  have  such  figures  as  these  taken  directly  from 
the  nature  of  Palestine: — 

"A  man  shall  be  as  a  hiding  place  from  the  wind, 

And  a  covert  from  the  tempest, 

As  streams  of  water  in  a  dry  place. 

As  the  shade  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary  land."    Isaiah  32:2. 

References  to  the  sea  are  not  uncommon,  although 
the  sea  was  not,  like  the  mountains  and  valleys,  always 
before  the  eyes  of  the  poet.  The  fact  that  John  con- 
ceives of  the  new  earth  as  a  place  in  which  there  will 
be  "no  more  sea,"  Revelation  21  :i,  may  have  reference 
to  what  was  a  fact,  that  the  sea  was  not  regarded  with 
pleasure  in  Bible  times.  But  this  attitude  towards  the 
sea  is  not  peculiar  to  the  Jew  of  old.  The  poetry  of  the 
sea,  beyond  allusions,  is  most  of  it  modern,  as  is 
also,  doubtless  for  the  same  reason,  the  poetry  of  the 
mountains.  Certain  general  aspects  and  suggestions 
of  both  mountains  and  sea  are  recognized  in  ancient 
literature,  the  mountains  suggest  permanency,  and  the 
sea  instability  and  change,  but  our  modern  ideas  of 
the  universe,  and  our  improved  means  of  travel  and 
of  protecting  ourselves  against  the  assaults  of  the 
elements,  have  had  perhaps  much  to  do  with  modi- 
fying our  thoughts  concerning  them.  Biblical  refer- 
ences to  the  sea  mention  only  its  power,  its  restless- 
ness, its  changefulness,  its  treachery.    Job  says: — 

"Am  I  a  sea,  or  a  sea-monster, 

That  thou  settest  a  watch  over  me.?"    Job  7:12. 


IMAGERY   AND   ALLUSION    IN   THE    BIBLE  II 5 

The  Psalmist  writes: — 

"Yonder  is  the  sea,  great  and  wide, 
Wherein  are  things  creeping  innumerable, 
Both  small  and  great  beasts. 
There  go  the  ships; 

There  is  leviathan,  whom  thou  hast  formed  to  play  therein." 
Psalm  104:25-26. 

"They  that  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships, 
That  do  business  in  great  waters; 
These  see  the  wonders  of  Jehovah, 
And  his  wonders  in  the  deep. 

For  he  commandeth,  and  raiseth  the  stormy  wind. 
Which  lifteth  up  the  waves  thereof. 
They  mount  up  to  the  heavens. 
They  go  down  again  to  the  depths: 
Their  soul  melteth  away  because  of  trouble. 
They  reel  to  and  fro,  and  stagger  like  a  drunken  man. 
And  are  at  their  wit's  end. 
Then  they  cry  unto  Jehovah  in  their  trouble. 
And  he  bringeth  them  out  of  their  distresses. 
He  maketh  the  storm  a  calm. 
So  that  the  waves  thereof  are  still. 
Then  they  are  glad  because  they  are  quiet; 
So  he   bringeth   them    unto   their   desired   haven."    Psalm 
107:23-30. 

What  a  volume  of  meaning  is  conveyed  by  the  lines : — 

**He  maketh  the  storm  a  calm. 
So  that  the  waves  thereof  are  still. 

Then    they    are    glad    because    they    are    quiet."    Psalm 
107:29,30. 

On  the  sea  of  Galilee  the  disciples  were  in  danger  in 
their  small  boat,  Matthew  8:24,  and  Paul  had  a  very 


Il6  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

rough  experience  with  the  Mediterranean,  ending  with 
shipwreck.     Acts  27:6-44. 

Isaiah,  more  than  any  other  poet  in  the  Bible,  speaks 
of  the  sea,  as  one  who  has  seen  it,  in  calm  and  in  storm, 
and  has  noted  its  changing  aspects.  He  refers  not  only 
to  the  "pleasant  imagery"  of  "the  ships  of  Tarshish," 
Isaiah  2:16,  but  also  to  the  boisterous  sea  beating 
against  the  cliffs: — 

"And  they  shall  roar  against  them  in  that  day, 
Like  the  roaring  of  the  sea: 
And  if  one  look  unto  the  land, 
Behold,  darkness  and  distress; 

And  the  light  is  darkened  in  the  clouds  thereof."    Isaiah 
5:30. 

And  of  the  sea  washing  in  on  the  beach: — 

"But  the  wicked  are  like  the  troubled  sea; 

For  it  cannot  rest. 

And  its  waters  cast  up  mire  and  dirt."    Isaiah  57:20. 

A  splendid  passage  in  which,  in  Hebrew,  by  the  use 
of  long  vowels  and  doubled  consonants  Isaiah  has 
expressed  "the  slow  lift  and  roll  of  the  billows — their 
distant  booming — their  crash  and  hissing  sweep  along 
the  Syrian  coast,"  ^  much  of  which  will  be  felt  on  read- 
ing the  English  translation  aloud,  is  the  following: — 

"Ah,  the  uproar  of  many  peoples, 

That  roar  like  the  roaring  of  the  seas; 

And  the  rushing  of  nations, 

That  rush  like  the  rushing  of  mighty  waters! 

The  nations  shall  rush  like  the  rushing  of  many  waters: 

But  he  shall  rebuke  them, 

*  G.  A.  Smith,  The  Early  Poetry  of  Israel^  pp.  6,  7. 


IMAGERY    AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  II7 

And  they  shall  flee  far  off, 

And  shall  be  chased  as  the  chafF  of  the  mountains  before  the 

wind, 
And    like   the   whirling   dust    before   the    storm."     Isaiah 

17:12-13. 

Isaiah  writes  also: — 

**0h  that  thou  hadst  hearkened  to  my  commandments! 

Then  had  thy  peace  been  as  a  river, 

And  thy  righteousness  as  the  waves  of  the  sea."    Isaiah  48 : 1 8. 

He  gives  a  wonderful  picture  of  the  Nile  and  of  those 
who  depended  upon  it  for  a  living,  the  drying  up  of  the 
Nile  being  a  terrible  calamity. 

"And  the  waters  shall  fail  from  the  sea, 

And  the  river  shall  be  wasted  and  become  dry. 

And  the  fishers  shall  lament. 

And  all  they  that  cast  angle  into  the  Nile  shall  mourn. 
And  they  that  spread  nets  upon  the  waters  shall  languish." 
Isaiah  19:5-8. 

Biblical  poets  give  us  pictures,  not  only  of  the  sea, 
the  mountains  and  the  fruitful  fields,  but  also  of  the 
life  of  a  great  city,  with  its  swiftly  moving  panorama, 
embracing  the  good  and  the  bad,  the  rich  and  the  poor. 
Isaiah  speaks  of  the  harlots,  the  haughty  daughters  of 
Zion  that  "walk  with  outstretched  necks  and  wanton 
eyes,  walking  and  mincing  as  they  go,  and  making  a 
tinkling  with  their  feet,"  Isaiah  3:16.  He  enumerates 
their  articles  of  adornment,  "their  anklets,  and  the 
cauls  and  the  crescents;  the  pendants  and  the  bracelets, 
and  the  mufflers;  the  headtires,  and  the  ankle  chains, 
and  the  sashes,  and  the  perfume-boxes,  and  the  amulets; 
the  rings  and  the  nose-jewels;  the  festival  robes,  and 


Il8  A   BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  mantles,  and  the  shawls,  and  the  satchels;  the  hand- 
mirrors,  and  the  fine  linen,  and  the  turbans  and  the 
veils,"  Isaiah  3  :i8-23.  ^  somewhat  similar  description 
of  adornments  is  given  in  Ezekiel  16:10-16,  in  the 
denunciation  of  Jerusalem,  which  played  the  harlot, 
and  John  in  his  vision.  Revelation  17:4-5,  beheld  the 
harlot  arrayed  in  all  her  fine  clothing  and  jewels.  These 
descriptions  are  all  from  life  as  seen  in  the  cities. 

Isaiah  describes  the  drunkards  that  "reel  with  wine 
and  stagger  with  strong  drink;" 

"The  priest  and  the  prophet  reel  with  strong  drink, 

They  are  swallowed  up  of  wine, 

They  stagger  with  strong  drink; 

They  err  in  vision,  they  stumble  in  judgment."    Isaiah 

28:7. 

The  drunkard  is  a  common  illustration,  and  the 
results  of  drunkenness,  such  as  brawling  and  quarreling. 
Proverbs  20:1,  Ephesians,  5:18, are  held  up  as  warnings. 

The  caravans,  the  coming  and  going  of  which  were 
so  important  in  Palestine's  prosperity,  were  in  the 
author's  mind  when  he  wrote  of  the  coming  glory  of 
Zion : — 

"The  multitude  of  camels  shall  cover  thee, 

The  dromedaries  of  Midian  and  Ephah; 

All  they  from  Sheba  shall  come; 

Thdy  shall  bring  gold  and  frankincense, 

And  shall  proclaim  the  praises  of  Jehovah."    Isaiah  60:6. 

In  Proverbs  8  :y,  we  have  the  vivid  picture  of  Wisdom 
standing  "Beside  the  gate,  at  the  entry  of  the  city" 
and  calling  to  the  people  as  they  go  in  and  out.  Job 
gives  us  a  scene  in  the  streets  of  a  city,  with  men  of  all 
kinds  passing  by: — 


IMAGERY    AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  II9 

"When  I  went  forth  to  the  gate  unto  the  city, 
When  I  prepared  my  seat  in  the  street, 
The  young  men  saw  me  and  hid  themselves, 
And  the  aged  rose  up  and  stood; 
The  princes  refrained  from  talking, 
And  laid  their  hand  on  their  mouth; 
The  voice   of  the   nobles   was   hushed. 
And  their  tongue  cleaved  to  the  roof  of  their  mouth. 
For  when  the  ear  heard  me,  then  it  blessed  me; 
And  when  the  eye  saw  me,  it  gave  witness   unto  me." 
Job  29:7-11. 

"Salutations  in  the  marketplaces"  were  greatly 
valued  by  men  who  liked  to  appear  important.  Luke 
20:46.  Isaiah  speaks  of  the  merchants  of  Tyre  who  are 
"princes,"  and  traffickers,  who  "are  the  honorable 
of  the  earth."  Isaiah  23:8.  Another  figure  from  the 
street  scenes  is  found  in  Psalm  59:6,  14,  where  the  poet 
says  of  his  enemies: — 

"They  return  at  evening,  they  howl  like  a  dog. 
And  go  round  about  the  city.*' 

Sometimes  the  figures  used,  and  pictures  suggested, 
are  those  of  household  life,  vivid  and  forceful  as: — 

"I  will  wipe  Jerusalem  as  a  man  wipeth  a  dish,  wiping  it 
and  turning  it  upside  down."    II  Kings  21  :i3. 

or: — 

"Moab  is  my  washpot;  upon  Edom  will  I  cast  my  shoe." 
Psalm  60:8. 


or; 


"Fervent  lips  and  a  wicked  heart 

"Are  like  an  earthen  vessel  overlaid  with  silver  dross." 
Proverbs  26:23. 


I20  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  poet  has  in  mind  the  life  of  a  family: — 

"Thy  wife  shall  be  as  a  fruitful    vine, 
In  the  innermost  parts  of  thy  house; 
Thy  children  like  olive  plants, 
Round  about  thy  table."     Psalm  128:3. 

Or  parental  love: — 

"As  one  whom  his  mother  comforteth, 

So  will  I  comfort  you; 

And  ye  shall  be  comforted  in  Jerusalem."     Isaiah  66:13. 

Like  as  a  father  pitieth  his  children. 

So  Jehovah  pitieth  them  that  fear  him.     Psalm  103:13. 

Sometimes  it  is  the  bearing  of  burdens  by  means  of  a 
yoke : — 

"Thou  shalt  shake  his  yoke  from  off  thy  neck."  Genesis 
27:40. 

"My  yoke  is  easy,  and  my  burden  is  light."  Matthew 
11:30. 

Again  it  is  the  driving  of  cattle: — 

"The  words  of  the  wise  are  as  goads."    Ecclesiastes  12:11. 

The  figures  are  often  taken  from  familiar  works  of 
man: — 

"  Behold  I  lay  in  Zion  for  a  foundation  a  stone,  a  tried  stone, 
A  precious  comer-stone  of  sure  foundation."    Isaiah  28:16. 

"His  heart  is  as  firm  as  a  stone; 

Yea,  firm  as  the  nether  mill-stone."    Job  41 :24. 

We  see  and  hear  the  beekeeper  hissing  to  call  his 
bees : — 


IMAGERY   AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  121 

"And  will  hiss  for  them  [the  Nations]  from  the  end  of  the 
earth; 

And  behold  they  shall  come  with  speed  swiftly."     Isaiah 
5:26. 

"And  it  shall  come  to  pass  in  that  day, 
That  Jehovah  will  hiss  for  the  fly, 
That  is  in  the  uttermost  part  of  the  rivers  of  Egypt, 
And  for  the  bee  that  is  in  the  land  of  Assyria. 
And  they  shall  come,  and  shall  rest  all  of  them 
In  the  desolate  valleys,  and  in  the  clefts  of  the  rocks, 
And  upon  all  thorn-hedges,  and  upon  all  pastures."    Isaiah 
7:18. 

Other  sources  of  figurative  language  were  Chaos  and 
Creation : — 

"I  beheld  the  earth. 

And,  lo  it  was  waste  and  void; 

And  the  heavens,  and  they  had  no  light. 

I  beheld  the  mountains  and  lo  they  trembled. 

And  all  the  hills  moved  to  and  fro."    Jeremiah  4:23. 

The  Deluge  is  probably  in  the  poet's  mind  when  he 
writes : — 

"The  windows  on  high  are  opened 

And  the  foundations  of  the  earth  tremble."    Isaiah  24 : 1 8. 

The  Exodus  and  its  many  incidents  are  referred  to  In 
a  number  of  passages: — 

"Thou  broughtest  a  vine  out  of  Egypt; 
Thou   didst  drive    out   the   nations,    and   plantedst  it." 
Psalm  80:8. 


122  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"And  Jehovah  will  utterly  destroy  the  tongue  of  the 
Egyptian  sea; 

And  with  his  scorching  wind  will  he  wave  his  hand  over 
the  River, 

And  he  will  smite  it  into  seven  streams, 

And  cause  men  to  march  over  dryshod."    Isaiah  11:15. 

**Thus  saith  Jehovah 
Who  maketh  a  way  in  the  sea, 
And  a  path  in  the  mighty  waters; 
Who  bringeth  forth  the  chariot  and  horse, 
The  army  and  the  mighty  man: 
They  lie  down  together,  they  shall  not  rise; 
They  are  extinct;  they  are  quenched  as  a  wick."     Isaiah 
43:16-17. 

"Is  it  not  thou  that  driedst  up  the  sea. 

The  waters  of  the  great  deep; 

That  madest  the  depths  of  the  sea  a  way 

For  the  redeemed  to  pass  over.?"    Isaiah  51:10. 

"Where  is  Jehovah  that  brought  us  up 

Out  of  the  land  of  Egypt, 

That  led  us  through  the  wilderness, 

Through  a  land  of  deserts  and  of  pits. 

Through  a  land  of  drought  and  of  the  shadow  of  death, 

Through  a  land  that  none  passed  through. 

And  where  no  man  dwelt? "Jeremiah  2:6. 

The  appearance  of  God  is  described  in  language  that 
takes  us  back  to  the  thunderings  and  lightnings  and 
smoking  mountain  of  Exodus,  ch.  20,  where  the  giving 
of  the  Law  is  described.  Such  passages  are  Psalm  18: 
7-15,  and  Habakkuk  3.  Jehovah  speaks  in  the  storm, 
Job  38:1,  and  Psalm  29,  a  poem  of  nature  is  the  de- 
scription of  a  thunder-storm  which  is  called  "  the  voice 
of  Jehovah." 

The  symbolic  vestments  of  the  priests  and  the  ser- 


IMAGERY   AND    ALLUSION    IN    THE    BIBLE  1 23 

vices  of  the  Tabernacle  and  the  Temple  are  likewise 
sources  of  figurative  expression.  Jehovah  "clothed 
with  majesty,"  "clothed  with  strength,"  "girded  with 
strength"  all  suggest  the  dress  of  the  priests  as  de- 
scribed in  Exodus,  ch.  29.  A  striking  passage  in  which 
garments  and  armor  are  used  figuratively  is  this  from 
Isaiah: — 

"  And  he  put  on  righteousness  as  a  breastplate, 
And  a  helmet  of  salvation  upon  his  head; 
And  he  put  on  garments  of  vengeance  for  clothing; 
And  was  clad  with  zeal  as  a  mantle."     Isaiah  59:17. 

Later  Paul  used  figuratively  the  armor  of  the  Roman 
soldier: — 

"Stand  therefore,  having  girded  your  loins  with  truth, 
and  having  put  on  the  breastplate  of  righteousness,  and 
having  shod  your  feet  with  the  preparation  of  the  gospel  of 
peace;  .  .  .  taking  up  the  shield  of  faith  .  .  .  the  helmet  of 
salvation  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of 
God."    Ephesians  6:14-17. 

The  apocalyptic  books  abound  in  imagery,  much  of 
which  was  not  so  much  metaphor  or  analogy  as  pure 
symbolism,  such  as  the  conception  of  the  new  Jerusalem, 
in  Revelation,  a  city  "foursquare,"  "the  length,  and 
the  breadth  and  the  height  thereof"  being  "equal." 
The  Oriental  manner  of  expressing  ideas  picturesquely 
and  concretely,  instead  of  abstractly,  leads  to  the 
notable,  use  of  imagery  in  the  Bible. 


CHAPTER  VI 

BIBLICAL  HISTORY 

A  LARGE  part  of  the  Bible,  both  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  is  historical.  We  have,  from  Genesis  to 
Esther,  inclusive,  seventeen  books  as  we  count  them 
to-day,  all  of  which  contain  accounts  of  "what  hap- 
pened," and  the  words  and  actions  of  the  persons  to 
whom,  or  through  whom,  it  happened.  We  have  his- 
tory recorded  also  in  some  of  the  prophets,  notably  in 
Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Daniel,  Amos,  Jonah,  Haggai,  that 
is  to  say,  accounts  of  men  and  what  they  did.  In  the 
Old  Testament,  we  have  two  sets  of  historical  books, 
one  of  which,  the  older,  comprises  Genesis  to  II  Kings, 
inclusive,  except  Ruth,  which  is  in  Hebrew  found  in 
the  miscellaneous  collection  of  the  Writings;  the 
other,  a  later  series,  consists  of  I  and  II  Chronicles, 
Ezra,  and  Nehemiah.  All  of  these  books  as  we  have 
them  probably  contain  material  from  still  earlier  works. 
Much  of  the  Old  Testament  history  is  evidently  de- 
rived from  more  ancient  stories  about  important  char- 
acters, who  are  thus  made  to  live  again  for  us.^ 

In  the  New  Testament  we  have  history  in  the  Gos- 
pels and  Acts,  but  history  of  a  different  kind,  the  his- 
tory, not  of  a  people,  but  of  an  individual  and  of  the 
promulgation  of  his  teachings  by  his  followers.  The 
historian  of  to-day  is  concerned  more  with  movements 
and  ideas  than  with  men.     He  usually  treats  of  the 

*  For  an  account  of  the  relation  of  the  existing  books  to  the  earlier  stories 
see  S.  R.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament. 

124 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I25 

latter  only  as  they  were  concerned  in  the  political  or 
social  movements  of  their  times.  With  the  compilers 
or  authors  of  the  histories  contained  in  the  Bible,  we 
find  that  an  ethical  or  religious  purpose  lay  behind 
what  was  recorded,  and  their  conscious  endeavor  was 
to  give  such  accounts  of  the  happenings  of  the  past  as 
would  show,  by  actual  instances,  God's  manner  of 
dealing  with  individuals  and  peoples.  More  than  one 
half  of  the  historical  books,  I  Samuel  to  Nehemiah, 
inclusive,  is  devoted  to  the  stories  of  Samuel,  Saul, 
David,  and  Solomon.  The  period  from  Joshua  to  Sam- 
uel, about  four  centuries,  is  represented  by  the  short 
book  of  Judges  which  consists  chiefly  of  stories  of 
heroes.  According  as  men  and  nations  obeyed,  or  dis- 
obeyed, the  commandments  of  God,  and  walked  in,  or 
departed  from,  his  ways,  so  is  the  record  of  their  pros- 
perity and  happiness,  or  adversity  and  misery,  found 
preserved  for  the  instruction  and  guidance  of  future 
generations.  The  line  of  David  from  which  was  to 
come  the  Messiah  was  especially  kept  in  mind  by  the 
Bible  historians,  and  history  is  presented  almost  en- 
tirely through  biographies.  Back  of  all  the  history  is 
Jehovah,  and  such  books  as  have  come  to  us  record,  in 
every  instance,  except  possibly  Esther,  the  belief  that 
it  was  he  that  controlled  the  lives  of  men  and  nations. 
How  clearly  the  religious  and  moral  teaching  of  history 
is  set  forth  may  be  seen  in  the  following  passages,  each 
taken  from  the  close  of  a  book,  and  in  most  cases  from 
the  last  chapter.  They  include  every  Old  Testament 
history,  except  the  Pentateuch  and  Esther,  the  latter  be- 
ing noteworthy  for  making  no  mention  of  Jehovah: — 

"And  Israel  served  Jehovah  all  the  days  of  Joshua,  and 
all  the  days  of  the  elders  that  outlived  Joshua,  and  had  known 


126  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

all  the  work  of  Jehovah,  that  he  had  wrought  for  Israel." 
Joshua  24:31. 

"And  Jehovah  smote  Benjamin  before  Israel;  and  the 
children  of  Israel  destroyed  of  Benjamin  that  day  twenty 
and  five  thousand  and  a  hundred  men:  all  these  drew  the 
sword." 

"In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in  Israel;  every  man 
did  that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes."  Judges  20:35; 
21:25. 

"And  when  David  came  to  Ziklag,  he  sent  of  the  spoil  unto 
the  elders  of  Judah,  even  to  his  friends,  saying,  Behold,  a 
present  for  you  of  the  spoil  of  the  enemies  of  Jehovah." 

I  Samuel  30:26. 

"And  David  built  there  an  altar  unto  Jehovah,  and  offered 
burnt  offerings  and  peace  offerings.  So  Jehovah  was  en- 
treated for  the  land,  and  the  plague  was  stayed  from  Israel." 

II  Samuel  24:25. 

"And  he  [Ahaziah]  served  Baal,  and  worshipped  him,  and 
provoked  to  anger  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  according  to 
all  that  his  father  [Ahab]  had  done."    I  Kings  22:53. 

"And  he  [Zedekiah]  did  that  which  was  evil  in  the  sight  of 
Jehovah,  according  to  all  that  Jehoiakim  had  done.  For 
through  the  anger  of  Jehovah  did  it  come  to  pass  in  Jerusalem 
and  Judah,  until  he  had  cast  them  out  from  his  presence." 
II  Kings  24:19-20. 

"Then  Solomon  sat  on  the  throne  of  Jehovah  as  king  in- 
stead of  David  his  father,  and  prospered;  and  all  Israel 
obeyed  him.  .  .  .  And  Jehovah  magnified  Solomon  ex- 
ceedingly in  the  sight  of  all  Israel,  and  bestowed  upon  him 
such  royal  majesty  as  had  not  been  on  any  king  before  him 
in  Israel."    I  Chronicles  29:23,  25. 

"Now  in  the  first  year  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia,  that  the 
word  of  Jehovah  by  the  mouth  of  Jeremiah  might  be  accom- 
plished, Jehovah  stirred  up  the  spirit  of  Cyrus  king  of  Persia, 
so  that  he  made  a  proclamation.  .  .  .  Whosoever  there  is 
among  you  of  all  his  people,  Jehovah  his  God  be  with  him, 
and  let  him  go  up."    II  Chronicles  36:22,  23. 


BIBLICAL  HISTORY  12/ 

"O  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  thou  art  righteous;  for  we 
are  left  a  remnant  that  is  escaped  as  it  is  this  day:  behold 
we  are  before  thee  in  our  guiltiness;  for  none  can  stand  be- 
fore thee  because  of  this.'*    Ezra  9:15. 

"Remember  them,  O  my  God,  because  they  have  defiled 
the  priesthood,  and  the  covenant  of  the  priesthood,  and  of 
the  Levites."  "  Remember  me,  O  my  God,  for  good."" 
Nehemiah  13:29,  31. 

Calamities,  such  as  the  loss  of  the  Ark  to  the  Philis- 
tines, I  Samuel  ch.  4,  and  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem 
by  the  Chaldeans,  II  Chronicles  ch.  36,  are  attributed 
to  the  loss  of  the  favor  of  Jehovah,  in  one  case, 
because  of  the  sin  on  the  part  of  Eli  and  his  sons,  who 
made  "Jehovah's  people  to  transgress,"  and,  in  the 
other,  because  of  the  sins  of  Zedekiah  and  "all  the 
chiefs  of  the  priests  and  the  people"  who  "trespassed 
very  greatly  after  the  abominations  of  the  nations." 
"Therefore  he  [Jehovah]  brought  upon  them  the  king 
of  the  Chaldeans."  The  fall  of  Samaria,  and  the  cap- 
tivity of  Israel  are  attributed  to  the  wickedness  of 
Hoshea,  king  of  Israel.  II  Kings  17:2-3.  Triumphs 
like  those  of  Gideon,  Judges  7,  over  the  Midianites, 
David  over  Goliath,  I  Samuel  17,  or  Asa  over  the  Ethio- 
pians II  Chronicles  14,  are  attributed  directly  to  the 
favor  of  Jehovah.  The  oft-repeated  statements  con- 
cerning kings  that  they  "did  that  which  was  right 
in  the  eyes  of  Jehovah,"  or  that  they  "did  that  which 
was  evil  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah,"  or  that  the  people 
did  "that  which  was  right,"  or  "that  which  was  evil," 
indicate  clearly  the  thoughts  in  the  minds  of  the  an- 
cient Hebrew  historiographers. 

The  kings,  who  preserved  or  restored  the  religious 
ceremonials  of  the  Israelites  as  prescribed  in  the  law 
of  Moses,  are  mentioned  at  some  length,  as  are  also 


128  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

those  who  were  notably  unfaithful  to  the  worship  of 
Jehovah,  and  who  succumbed  to  the  idolatry,  which 
flourished  among  surrounding  peoples.  The  histor- 
ian wrote  his  accounts  with  this  idea  constantly 
in  his  mind,  that  the  favor  of  Jehovah  depended 
upon  obedience  to  his  commands  as  set  forth  in  the 
Law. 

Just  what  the  general  contents  and  purposes  of  the 
different  books  and  groups  of  books  were,  we  will  now 
consider  briefly.  Let  us  begin  by  examining  the  books 
of  the  Old  Testatment.  To  the  Jew  the  most  authori- 
tative, the  fundamental  books,  were  those  which  con- 
stitute what  he  called  the  Torah,  or  the  Law,  but  which 
readers  of  the  English  Bible  commonly  call  the  Pen- 
tateuch, a  name  given  by  the  Greek  translators  to  in- 
dicate the  fact  that  the  Torah  consisted  of  five  books, 
or  parts.  When  Joshua,  which  relates  the  early  his- 
tory of  Israel  in  Canaan,  is  grouped  with  the  first  five 
books,  we  have  what  is  called  the  Hexateuch.  This  was 
not  done  by  the  Jews,  who  invariably  regarded  the 
Book  of  the  Law  as  a  unit,  and  never  changed  its 
contents  by  including  any  other  book.  This  is  true 
also  of  the  other  two  collections,  the  Prophets,  and  the 
Sacred  Writings,  which  complete  the  Jewish  Scriptures, 
and,  with  the  Law,  compose  our  Old  Testament.  No 
book  of  one  collection  ever  appeared  in  another.  The- 
order  of  the  books  in  the  Law  did  not  vary,  nor  did  the 
order  of  the  Former  Prophets,  Joshua-Kings,  in  the 
second  collection,  being  chronological.  The  Latter 
Prophets,  Isaiah-Malachi,  were  not  always  in  the  same 
order  in  Hebrew,  Jeremiah  sometimes  following  Kings 
immediately.  The  third  collection  varied  in  the  order 
of  the  books,  as  no  chronological  principle  was  followed, 
though  Psalms  usually  came  first. 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  129 

THE    PENTATEUCH 

The  Book  of  the  Law,  or  the  Pentateuch,  contains 
not  only  a  brief  summary  of  the  history  of  the  hu- 
man race  prior  to  the  call  of  Abraham,  and  an  account 
of  the  beginnings  and  history  of  the  chosen  people 
from  the  call  of  Abraham  to  the  death  of  Moses,  but 
also  statements,  of  the  laws  and  regulations  by 
which  the  nation  was  to  be  governed  and  the  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah  conducted.  The  forty  years  in  the  wil- 
derness were  spent  not  in  aimless  wandering,  but,  be- 
ginning with  two  years  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mount 
Sinai,  on  the  top  of  which,  we  are  told,  Jehovah  gave 
to  Moses  the  Law,  and  the  directions  for  the  construc- 
tion of  the  Ark  of  the  Covenant,  the  Tabernacle  and  its 
furnishing,  also  the  ceremonials,  offerings  and  sacri- 
fices, these  years  were  occupied  with  the  organizing  of 
a  vast  multitude  of  people,  governed  only  in  the  patri- 
archal system  of  families,  each  with  its  head,  into  a 
nation  with  its  proper  officials  and  laws,  all  government 
deriving  authority  directly  from  Jehovah,  visibly  pres- 
ent in  the  light  of  the  Shekinah  over  the  Ark  in  the 
Holy  of  Holies  of  the  Tabernacle,  into  which  the  High 
Priest  at  specified  times  was  permitted  to  go,  Leviticus, 
ch.  i6.  Judges  and  officers  were  appointed  to  "judge 
the  people  with  righteous  judgment,"  Deuteronomy, 
i6:i8,  but  the  High  Priest  was  the  head  of  the  re- 
ligious organization.  We  are  told  in  Joshua  5  '.4.-6,  that 
"all  the  people  that  came  out  of  Egypt,  that  were  males, 
even  all  the  men  of  war,  died  in  the  wilderness  by  the 
way  .  .  .  because  they  hearkened  not  unto  the  voice  of 
Jehovah."  In  Numbers  32:11,  12,  we  are  told  that  this 
applied  only  to  men  "  twenty  years  old  and  upward, " 
save  Caleb  and  Joshua. 


130  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Genesis 

Genesis,  the  book  of  beginnings,  contains  in  its  first 
eleven  chapters  a  summary  of  the  history  of  the  world 
prior  to  the  time  of  Abraham.  We  are  told  of  Creation, 
the  Fall,  the  expulsion  from  Eden,  the  murder  of  Abel 
and  the  curse  on  Cain,  the  Flood,  the  bow  of  promise, 
the  family  of  Noah,  the  Dispersion  of  the  peoples,  the 
building  of  cities,  the  confusion  of  tongues.  Although 
many  names  occur  in  the  historical  books,  we  have  only 
brief  statements  concerning  most  of  them.  Of  others 
we  are  told  much.  Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob,  the 
three  great  patriarchs,  have  their  stories  told  at  length. 
The  story  of  Joseph  gives  us  instruction  concerning 
the  wisdom  and  profitableness  of  right  conduct,  and 
also  prepares  the  way  for  the  account  of  the  Exodus. 
Even  the  casual  turning  over  of  the  pages  of  Genesis 
will  reveal  something  of  its  structure  as  a  book.  Gen- 
ealogy is  a  very  important  part  of  the  duty  of  the  his- 
toriographer. We  see  this  for  example  in  the  opening 
of  I  Chronicles  and  also  in  the  opening  of  Matthew  and 
in  Luke,  ch.  3.    It  appears  in  the  following  outline: — 

Genesis 

1.  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the 

earth.    1:1-2:3. 

2.  These   are  the  generations  of  the  heavens  and  the 

earth.    2:4-4:26. 

3.  This    is    the    book    of    the    generations    of   Adam. 
5:16:8. 

4.  These  are  the  generations  of  Noah.    6:9-9:28. 

5.  These  are  the    generations    of   the   Sons  of   Noah. 

10:1-11:9. 

6.  These  are  the  generations  of  Shem.    1 1 :  10-26. 


BIBLICAL  HISTORY  I3I 

7.  These  are  the   generations  of  Terah  (the  father  of 

Abram.    11:27-32. 

8.  And    Jehovah    said    unto   Abram    (call    of   Abram). 

12:1-25:11. 

9.  These    are   the    generations  of   Ishmael,   Abraham's 

son.    25:12-18. 

10.  These  are  the  generations  of  Isaac,  Abraham's  son. 

25:19-35:29. 

11.  These  are  the  generations  of  Esau.    36:1-43. 

12.  These   are   the  generations  of  Jacob,  whose  twelve 

sons  were    the    ancestors    of  the   twelve   tribes  of 
Israel.    37:1-50:26. 

Arranged  in  this  way  the  general  plan  of  the  book  of 
Genesis  is  clear.  It  is  the  beginning  I.  of  the  earth  2. 
of  the  human  race  3.  of  the  Jew.  Jt  leaves  "the  sons  of 
Israel"  in  Egypt,  whither  they  had  gone,  as  told 
in  the  story  of  Joseph,  and  from  which  they  were  to 
be  led  forth,  as  told  in  Exodus.  Under  the  different 
subdivisions  are  preserved  the  stories  which  properly 
belong  in  each.  Some  of  the  divisions  are  brief,  like  7, 
the  "generations  of  Terah,"  which  simply  tells  us  of  the 
immediate  family  of  Terah,  the  father  of  Abram,  or  9, 
the  generations  of  Ishmael,  Abraham's  son,  while  others, 
like  8,  which  contains  the  life  of  Abraham  from  his  call 
to  his  death,  or  10,  which  closes  with  the  death  of  Isaac, 
or  12  which  contains  the  story  of  Joseph,  and  ends 
with  his  death,  are  long  and  contain  many  stories  con- 
cerning the  lives  of  the  important  characters  presented. 

Exodus 

The  other  historical  books  have  each  its  definite  pur- 
pose, which  is  to  preserve,  and  to  present  in  an  orderly 
manner,  an  account  of  the  important  events  and  person- 
ages in  the  period  of  Hebrew  history  which  it  covers. 


132  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Genesis  closes  with  "all  the  house  of  Joseph,  and 
his  brethren,  and  his  father's  house"  in  Egypt  after  a 
brief  return  to  Canaan,  whither  they  went  to  bury 
Jacob.  Exodus  opens  with  a  brief  statement  concern- 
ing the  descendants  of  Jacob  who  were  dwelling  in 
Egypt,  and  the  history  of  the  Israelites  as  slaves  under 
"  a  new  king,"  "who  knew  not  Joseph."  An  outline  of 
the  book  reveals  the  following  general  structure: — 

Exodus 

1.  Israelites  in  Egypt.    1:1-2:25. 

2.  Call  of  Moses  and  his  early  history.    3:1-7:25. 

3.  Plagues  of  Egypt,  8:1-11:10. 

4.  The  institution  of  the  Passover.     12:1-13:16. 

5.  Exodus  from  Egypt  and  journey  to  the  wilderness  of 
Sinai.    13:17-19:6. 

6.  The  giving  of  the  Law  from  Sinai  (moral  and  civil). 
19:7-24:18. 

7.  The  directions  for  the  Tabernacle  and  the  organizing 
of  ceremonial  worship.     25  :i-3 1:18. 

8.  The  Episode  of  the  Golden  Calf.    32:1-35. 

9.  The  erection  of  the  Tabernacle,  etc.    33:1-40:38. 

Exodus  closes  with  the  statement  that  Jehovah,  who 
had  spoken  from  the  top  of  Sinai,  now  manifested  him- 
self visibly  in  the  Tabernacle : — 

"For  the  cloud  of  Jehovah  was  upon  the  Tabernacle  by 
day,  and  there  was  fire  therein  by  night,  in  the  sight  of  all 
the  house  of  Israel,  throughout  all  their  journeys."  Exodus 
40:38. 

Leviticus 

Leviticus  is  a  book  of  laws,  treating  especially  of  the 
duties  of  the  sons  of  Levi,  the  priests,  whence  its  name 
in  the  Septuagint.     On  examining  its  contents  as  we 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I33 

have  those  of  Genesis  and  Exodus,  we  find  that  it 
consists  of  the  following: — 

1.  Laws  of  Sacrifice  with  rituals  and  directions  to  the 

priests.     1:1-16:34. 

2.  The  Law  of  Holiness.    17:1-26:46. 

3.  Concerning  vows  and  tithes.    27:1-34. 

Many  expressions  from  the  Law  of  Holiness  occur  in 
Ezekiel,  some  nowhere  else,  and  there  is  a  close  resem- 
blance between  Ezekiel  and  the  Law  of  Holiness  in  the 
conception  of  the  holiness  of  Jehovah. 

Numbers 

The  book  of  Numbers  covers  a  period  of  thirty- 
/  eight  of  the  forty  years  that  elapsed  between  the  Exo- 
dus from  Egypt  and  the  entry  into  Canaan,  and  re- 
lates the  events  that  happened  between  the  time  at 
which  the  Israelites  left  the  wilderness  of  Sinai,  in  the 
second  year,  and  their  arrival  on  "the  plains  of  Moab 
by  the  Jordan  at  Jericho"  Numbers  36:13.  It  con- 
tains, as  J:he  name  indicates,  a  census  of  the  tribes, 
preparatory  to  the  leaving  of  Sinai  for  the  journey  to 
the  promised  land.    An  outline  is  as  follows: — 

Numbers 

1.  Census  of  the  tribes  except  the  Levites. 
1:1-2:34. 

2.  Census  of  the  Levites.    3:1-4:49. 

3.  Purification  of  the  camp.    5:1-31. 

I  Pretarationsl^'  ^^^^^^  ^^^^^^^^^^^^^'    ^'^~^7' 

5.  The  offerings  by  the  princes  of  the  tribes. 

7:1-89. 

6.  Consecration  of  the  Levites.    8:1-26. 

7.  The  Keeping  of  the  Passover.    9:1-14. 

8.  Regulations  for  the  March.    9:15-10:10. 


134  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

1.  The  beginning  of  the  March.    10:11-36. 

2.  Murmurings.    11:1-14:45. 

3.  Special  laws  concerning  offerings.     15:1- 

1 1.  The  March  \       ^/i- 

4.  Murmurings.    16:1-21:35. 

5.  The  Story  of  Balaam.    22:1-24:25. 

6.  Events   in    Moab.    25:1-36:13,    33:1-56, 
is  the  itinerary  from  Egypt  to  Moab. 

Deuteronomy 

Deuteronomy  is  frequently  spoken  of  as  "the  fare- 
well speeches  of  Moses  "  and  this  is  what  it  really  is, 
with  a  code  of  laws,  constituting  chapters  12-26,  in- 
serted in  the  book.  The  name  of  the  book  is  from  the 
Septuagint  and  means  a  second  giving  of  the  law.  The 
ten  commandments  given  on  Sinai,  and  recorded  in 
Exodus,  ch.  20,  are  repeated,  in  Deuteronomy,  ch.  5,  and 
the  code  and  interpretations  of  the  laws  consti- 
tute, as  Dr.  Driver  has  expressed  it,  "a  manual  which 
without  entering  into  technical  details  (almost  the  only 
exception  is  14:3-20,  which  explains  itself)  would  in- 
struct the  Israelite  in  the  ordinary  duties  of  life.  .  .  . 
Deuteronomy  is,  Jiowever,  more  than  a  mere  code  of 
laws;  it  is  the  expression  of  a  profound  ethical  and  re- 
ligious spirit,  which  determines  its  character  in  every 
part."  ^  It  is  a  summary  of  the  history  of  the  Israelites 
up  to  the  actual  entry  into  Canaan. 

The  scene  suggested  by  the  opening  verses  is  dra- 
matic. We  picture  to  ourselves  a  multitude  standing,  or 
sitting  in  a  large  open  plain  or  wilderness,  and  Moses, 
in  some  commanding  position,  speaking  to  them  and 
recalling  to  their  minds  the  incidents  and  lessons  of 

*  S.  R.  Driver,  Introdwtion  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament^  p.  77. 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I35 

the  past  forty  years.     He  emphasizes  the  fact  that  he 
has  given  them  a  written  law,  which  must  be  followed : — 

"And  Jehovah  thy  God  will  make  thee  plenteous  in  all 
the  work  of  thy  hand,  in  the  fruit  of  thy  body,  and  in  the 
fruit  of  thy  cattle,  and  in  the  fruit  of  thy  ground,  for  good : 
for  Jehovah  will  again  rejoice  over  thee  for  good,  as  he  re- 
joiced over  thy  fathers;  if  thou  shalt  obey  the  voice  of  Jehovah 
thy  God,  to  keep  his  commandments  and  his  statutes  which 
are  written  in  this  book  of  the  law;  if  thou  turn  unto  Jehovah 
thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul."  Deu- 
teronomy 30:9,  10. 

We  can  hear  these  words  of  Moses  ringing  through 
the  centuries  as  one  historian  after  another  recounted 
the  deeds  and  misdeeds  of  Israel.  The  work  of  Moses 
had  been  completed.  He  had  brought  them  to  the 
boundary  which  he  himself  might  not  cross  with  them. 
He  was  allowed  to  view  the  Promised  Land  from  the 
top  of  MountJPisgah,  and  then : — 

"Moses  the  servant  of  Jehovah  died  there  in  the  land  of 
Moab,  according  to  the  word  of  Jehovah.  And  he  buried 
him  in  the  valley  in  the  land  of  Moab  over  against  Beth- 
peor:  but  no  man  knoweth  of  his  sepulchre  unto  this  day." 
Deuteronomy  34:5-6. 

An  outline  is: — 

Deuteronomy 

1.  Introduction  giving  time  and  place  of  the  speeches  of 

Moses.    1:1-4. 

2.  First  speech  of  Moses.     1:5-4:40. 

3.  Episode — ^The  setting  apart  of  cities  of  refuge.    4:41- 

43- 

4.  Introduction  to  second  speech.    4:44-49. 


136  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

5.  Second  speech  of  Moses.    5:1-11:32. 

6.  A  code  of  laws.     12:1-26:19. 

7.  A  rehearsal  of  the  ceremony  of  blessing  and  cursing. 

27:1-26. 

8.  Third  speech  of  Moses.    28:1-68. 

9.  Fourth  speech  of  Moses.    29:1-31:13. 

10.  Introduction  to  the  Song  of  Moses.    31  :i4-30. 

11.  Song  of  Moses.    32:1-47. 

12.  Last  words  of  Moses.    32:48-33 :29. 

13.  Postscript  concerning  the  death  of  Moses  and  succes- 

sion of  Joshua.    34:1-12. 

THE    FORMER   PROPHETS 

Omitting  here  the  book  of  Ruth,  which  the  Hebrew 
places  in  the  "Writings,"  or  third  collection  of  scrip- 
tures, and  which  appears  after  Judges,  in  the  Septua- 
gint,  because  the  story  is  laid  in  "the  days  when  the 
judges  judged,"  Ruth  1:1,  we  proceed  in  our  examina- 
tion of  the  Bible  and  find,  following  the  Pentateuch,  a 
series  of  historical  books,  Joshua-II  Kings,  known  to 
the  Jews  as  the  "Former  Prophets,"  which  cover  the 
period  from  the  entrance  of  the  Israelites  into  Canaan 
under  the  leadership  of  Joshua,  the  successor  of  Moses, 
in  the  fifteenth  century  b.  c.  to  the  taking  of  Jerusalem 
by  Nebuchadnezzar,  the  destruction  of  the  Temple,  the 
carrying  off  to  Babylon  into  captivity  of  Jehoiachin 
King  of  Judah,  and  his  release  from  prison,  in  562  b. 
c.  The  northern  kingdom  of  Israel  had  been  overrun 
by  the  Assyrians  and  the  people  carried  off  captive  by 
722  B.  c.  in  the  reign  of  Hoshea.  This  conquest  was 
begun  by  Shalmaneser,  II  Kings  17:3-5,  and  completed 
by  Sargon,  who  in  an  inscription  states  that  he  took 
the  city  of  Samaria  and  carried  into  captivity  twenty- 
seven  thousand  two  hundred  and  ninety  of  the  inhabit- 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  1 37 

ants.    This  ended  the  Kingdom  of  Israel,  and  after  this 
the  "ten  tribes"  became  "lost." 


Joshua 

This  series  of  historical  books  contains  accounts  of 
the  occupation  of  Canaan  by  the  Israelites  under  Joshua, 
and  his  insistence  upon  the  necessity  of  following  "the 
book  of  the  law  of  Moses,"  Joshua  8:30-35;  ^  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  land  among  the  tribes  of  Israel,  except 
the  Levites,  who  were  set  apart  to  be  priests;  the  appoint- 
ing of  the  cities  of  refuge  as  directed  by  Moses ;  the  vow 
of  the  people  to  serve  Jehovah,  and  the  covenant  which 
Joshua  made  with  the  people,  and  wrote  "in  the  book 
of  the  law  of  God,"  Joshua  29:26;  the  death  of  Joshua; 
the  burial  in  Shechem  of  the  bones  of  Joseph,  which 
had  been  brought  from  Egypt,  Genesis  50:25,  Exodus 
13:19;  and  the  death  of  Eleazar,  who  had  succeeded  his 
father  Aaron  as  High  Priest  on  the  latter's  death. 
Numbers  20:28.  Aaron,  like  Moses,  was  not  permitted 
to  enter  the  promised  land.  Similar  in  content  and  pur- 
pose to  the  farewell  speeches  of  Moses,  recorded  in 
Deuteronomy,  are  the  farewell  speeches  of  Joshua,  given 
in  the  last  two  chapters  of  the  book.  Like  Moses, 
Joshua  besought  the  people  to  be  faithful  to  Jehovah 
and  to  refrain  from  worshipping  foreign  gods.  The 
historians  tell  how  Israel  often  forgot  these  warnings  of 
Moses  and  Joshua,  and  how  disasters  inevitably  fol- 
lowed. 

An  outline  of  the  contents  of  the  book  is  as  fol- 
lows : — 

*  According  to  an  ancient  rabbinical  tradition  Joshua  wrote  the  law  of 
Moses  upon  stones,  Joshua  8:32,  in  all  the  languages  of  the  world,  supposed 
to  be  seventy  in  number,  and  not  only  in  Hebrew  for  the  Jews. 


138 


A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 


Conquest    of 
Canaan 


Apportionment 
of  Canaan 


Farewell  and 
death  of 
Joshua 


Joshua 

1.  Preparation  for  entering  the  promised  land. 

The  incident  of  Rahab  and  the  Spies. 
1:1-2:24. 

2.  The  crossing  of  Jordan  and  the  setting  up 

of  memorial  stones.    3 : 1-4:24. 

3.  Circumcision  of  the  people  that  were  bom 

in  the  wilderness.    5:1-9. 

4.  Keeping  of  the  Passover.^  5:10-12. 

5.  Vision  of  Joshua — "The  man  with  the 

drawn  sword."    5:13-15. 

6.  Capture  of  Jericho  and  Ai.    The  incident 

of  Achan.    6:1-8:29. 

7.  The  reading  of  the  law  at  Ebal.    8:30-35. 

8.  The   Incident   of   the  Gibeonites*   strat- 

agem.   9:1-27.* 

9.  Defeat  of  the  kings.    10:1-11:23. 

10.  Summary   of    the    conquest   of  Canaan. 
12:1-24. 

1.  The  apportionment  of  the  land  to  the 
tribes  except  Levi.    13:1-19:51. 

2.  The  assignment  of  cities  of  refuge  20:1-9. 

3.  The  assignment  of  cities  to  the  Levites. 
21:1-45. 

4.  The  return  of  the  Reubenites  and 
Gadites  and  half-tribe  of  Manasseh. 
22:1-34. 

1.  First  farewell  speech  of  Joshua.    23:1-16. 

2.  Second  farewell  speech  of  Joshua.    24:1— 

28. 

3.  Death    of   Joshua.    Burial    of   bones    of 

Joseph.    Death  of  Eleazar.    24:29-33. 


With  the  deaths  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar,  the  successors 
of  Moses  and  Aaron,  the  Egyptian  period  of  Israel's 


BIBLICAL    HISTORY  I39 

history  may  be  said  to  have  come  to  a  close.     Israel  is 
now  organized  and  established  in  its  own  land. 


Judges 

At  Antioch  of  Pisidia,  Paul  told  the  people  that  God 
bare  with  the  children  of  Israel  in  the  wilderness  "for 
about  the  time  of  forty  years,"  after  which  they  had 
judges  "for  about  four  hundred  and  fifty  years," 
"until  Samuel  the  prophet."  Acts  13:18-20.  It  was 
Samuel  that  anointed  Saul  to  be  the  first  king  over 
Israel,  I  Samuel  10:1,  an  event  which  occurred  about 
eleven  centuries  before  the  Christian  era.  The  book 
of  Judges,  so  called  from  the  persons  whose  deeds  are 
recorded  in  it,  opens  with  an  introductory  section  con- 
necting it  with  the  close  of  Joshua,  and  recounting  the 
successes  of  Judah  and  Simeon  against  the  Canaanites 
and  the  Perizzites,  and  the  punishment  of  Adoni-bezek, 
who  had  humbled  "three  score  and  ten  kings."  The 
children  of  Judah  took  and  burned  Jerusalem.  The 
house  of  Joseph  also  prospered  and  took  Bethel.  Em- 
phasis is  laid  on  the  failure  of  the  other  tribes  to  carry 
out  the  commandments  of  Jehovah,  as  given  them  by 
Joshua,  that  they  were  not  to  mingle  with  other  nations. 
Joshua  23:7-13.  We  are  told  that  "the  children  of 
Benjamin  did  not  drive  out  the  Jebusites  that  inhabited 
Jerusalem;  but  the  Jebusites  dwell  with  the  children  of 
Benjamin  in  Jerusalem  unto  this  day."  "Manasseh 
did  not  drive  out  the  inhabitants  of  Beth-Shean," 
and  "Ephraim  drove  not  out  the  Canaanites  that  dwelt 
in  Gezer,"  and  "Zebulon  drove  not  out  the  inhabitants 
of  Kitron,"  and  "Asher  drove  not  out  the  inhabitants 
of  Acco,"  and  "Naphtali  drove  not  out  the  inhabitants 
of  Beth  Shemesh,"  and  "the  Amorites  forced  the  chil- 


140  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

dren  of  Dan  into  the  hill-country."  This  apparent 
willingness  of  the  children  of  Israel  to  dwell  on  terms  of 
amity  with  the  other  peoples  led  to  the  appearance  of 
the  Angel  of  Jehovah,  ^  a  dramatic  episode,  in  the 
light  of  which  we  read  the  subsequent  history  of  Is- 
rael : — 

"And  the  Angel  of  Jehovah  came  up  from  Gilgal  to  Bochim, 
And  he  said,  I  made  you  to  go  up  out  of  Egypt,  unto  the  land 
which  I  sware  unto  your  fathers;  and  I  said,  I  will  never 
break  my  covenant  with  you:  and  ye  shall  make  no  covenant 
with  the  inhabitants  of  this  land;  ye  shall  break  down  their 
altars.  But  ye  have  not  hearkened  unto  my  voice:  why 
have  ye  done  this?  Wherefore  I  also  said,  I  will  not  drive 
them  out  from  before  you;  but  they  shall  be  as  thorns  in 
your  sides,  and  their  gods  shall  be  a  snare  unto  you."  Judges 
2:1-3. 

Egypt,  the  wilderness  journey,  the  conquest  of 
Canaan,  all  past,  and  strict  obedience  to  the  commands 
of  Jehovah,  as  transmitted  by  Moses,  being  required, 
to  ensure  the  peace  and  happiness  that  had  been  prom- 
ised to  the  seed  of  Abraham,  we  find  the  people, 
just  as  in  the  wilderness,  forgetful  of  all  that  Jehovah 
had  done  for  them,  and  forsaking  "the  God  of  their 
fathers  "  to  follow  after  "other  gods,  of  the  gods  of  the 
peoples  that  were  round  about  them."  "And  they  for- 
sook Jehovah,  and  served  Baal  and  the  Ashtaroth." 
Judges  2:12,  13. 

Judges  is  a  sad  history  of  about  four  centuries  of 
faithlessness  and  idolatry,  during  which  the  nation  is 
subjected  to  attack  seven  times;  by  the  king  of  Mes- 
opotamia, 3:8;  the  king  of  Moab,  3:12;  the  Philistines, 
3:31;  the  king  of  Canaan,  4:2;  the  Midianites,  6:1; 
*  See  also  Judges  6:n  for  mention  of  the  Angel  of  Jehovah. 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I4I 

the  Ammonites,  10:9;  the  Philistines,  13:1.  Each 
time  they  were  dehvered  by  some  specially  appointed 
leader;  by  Othniel,  from  the  king  of  Mesopotamia,  3:9; 
by  Ehud  from  the  king  of  Moab,  3:15;  by  Shamgar 
from  the  Philistines,  3 :3 1 ;  by  Deborah,  the  prophetess 
and  judge,  from  the  king  of  Canaan,  4:1-5 :3 1 ;  by  Gideon 
from  the  Midianites,  6:7-8:35;  by  Jephthah  from  the 
Ammonites,  11:1-12:7;  by  Samson  from  the  Philistines, 
13:1-16:31. 

There  seemed  to  be  an  almost  complete  neglect  of 
the  ceremonials  and  laws  prescribed  by  Moses,  the  only 
mention  of  a  High-Priest  being,  20:27-28,  where  the 
Ark  of  the  Covenant  is  stated  to  have  been  at  Beth-el, 
and  Phinehas,  the  son  of  Eleazar  "stood  before  it  in 
those  days."  Judges  closes  with  the  stories  of  Micah, 
and  his  graven  image,  17:1-18:31,  the  Levite  and  his 
concubine,  19:1-30,  and  the  civil  war  between  Benjamin 
and  the  rest  of  Israel,  because  of  Benjamin's  refusal 
to  summon  the  "base  fellows"  of  Gibeah", 20:1-21:25. 
A  summary  of  the  period  of  the  judges  may  be  found 
in  the  last  verse  of  the  book: — 

"In  those  days  there  was  no  king  in  Israel,  every  man  did 
that  which  was  right  in  his  own  eyes."    21 :25. 

An  outline  of  the  book  is — 

Judges 

1.  Introduction,  showing  conditions  in  Canaan  following 
the  deaths  of  Joshua  and  Eleazar.    i  :i-2:io. 

2.  Idolatry  of  Israel  and  consequent  servitude  to  other 
nations.    2:11-3:6. 

3.  Accounts  of  various  invasions  and  rescues.    3 :7-i6:3i. 
Stories    of   Othniel,    Ehud,    Shamgar,    Deborah,    Gideon, 
Jephthah  and  Samson. 


142  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

4.  Episode  of  Micah  and  his  idolatry.     17:1-13. 

5.  Episode   of  the   Danites   and   Micah's  graven   image. 

18:1-31. 

6.  Episode  of  the  Levite  and  his  concubine.    19:1-30. 

7.  Civil  war  of  Israel  with  Benjamin.    20:1-21:25. 

/  and  II  Samuel 

With  the  books  of  Samuel  (one  book  in  Hebrew, 
divided  into  two  in  the  Septuagint,  which  calls  them 
I  and  II  Kings,  as  does  the  Vulgate),  we  pass  to  the  his- 
tory of  Israel  under  the  kings,  the  first  of  whom  was 
Saul.  In  the  speech  at  Antioch,-  from  which  we  have 
already  quoted,  Paul  said: — 

"And  after  these  things  he  gave  them  judges  until  the 
/  time  of  Samuel  the  prophet.  And  afterward  they  asked  for 
a  king:  and  God  gave  them  Saul  the  son  of  Kish,  a  man  of 
the  tribe  of  Benjamin,  for  the  space  of  forty  years.  And 
when  he  had  removed  him,  he  raised  up  David  to  be  their 
king.  ...  Of  this  man's  seed  hath  God  according  to  prom- 
ise brought  unto  Israel  a  Saviour,  Jesus."    Acts  13 :20-23. 

This  passage  indicates  not  only  Paul's  familiarity 
with  history  as  recorded  in  the  Scriptures,  but  also  a 
reason  in  the  mind  of  this  highly-educated  Pharisee,  for 
the  great  importance  of  David,  and  his  lineage,  in  addi- 
tion to  the  fact  that  it  was  David  who  prepared  for, 
and  his  son  Solomon,  who  built,  the  Temple,  after  the 
expulsion  of  the  Jebusites  from  Jerusalem,  II  Samuel 
5:6-10.1 

The  first  book  of  Samuel  tells  of  the  birth  of  Samuel; 
his  vision  and  call;  the  defeat  of  the  Israelites  by  the 

^  The  expectation  of  the  Jew  that  the  Messiah  would  come  from  the 
lineage  of  David  appears  in  such  passages  as  Isaiah  9:7,  Jeremiah  23:5>  6. 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I43 

Philistines  and  the  loss  of  the  Ark  in  consequence  of 
the  wickedness  of  Eli's  sons;  its  restoration,  and  the 
subsequent  defeat  of  the  PhiUstines  under  Samuel;  the 
sinfulness  of  Samuel's  sons;  the  granting  of  the  demand 
of  the  people  for  a  king;  and  the  reign  of  Saul. 

On  the  death  of  Saul,  David  was  anointed  king  over 
the  house  of  Judah  in  Hebron,  but  Abner  the  captain  of 
Saul's  army  made  Ish-bosheth,  son  of  Saul,  king  over 
Israel.  A  quarrel  with  Ish-bosheth  led  to  Abner's  ally- 
ing himself  with  David.  After  the  death  of  Abner,  the 
power  of  Ish-bosheth  declined,  and  he  was  slain  by  men 
who  thought  thus  to  gain  favor  with  David,  but  he  was 
so  far  from  approving  their  deed  that  he  caused  the  as- 
sassins to  be  put  to  death.  The  people,  however, 
wanted  David  as  king,  and  the  elders  came  to  him  in 
Hebron  and  anointed  him  king  over  Israel.  II  Samuel 
5:3-5.  The  history  of  David,  begun  in  I  Samuel  is  con- 
tinued, through  II  Samuel  to  I  Kings  2:10-12,  which  re- 
cords his  death  and  the  succession  of  Solomon,  after  an 
attempt  by  Adonijah  to  seize  the  kingdom. 

An  outline  is  as  follows: — 

/  Samuel 

1.  The  birth  of  Samuel.    1:1-2:11. 

2.  The  corruptness  of  Eli's  sons.    2:12-36. 

3.  The  call  of  Samuel  and  the  restoration  of  theocracy. 

3:1-21. 

4.  The  loss  and  restoration  of  the  Ark.    4:1-6:21. 

5.  Defeat  of  the  Philistines  by  Samuel.    7:1-17. 

6.  The  demand  for  a  King.    8:1-22. 

7.  The  story  of  Saul  and  David.    9:1-31  :i 3. 

Saul's  meeting  with  Samuel,    ch.  9. 

The  anointing  of  Saul  to  be  king  of  Israel,    ch.  10. 

Saul's  defeat  of  the  Ammonites,      ch.  11. 


144  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Address  of  Samuel  to  Israel,      ch.  12. 

Wars    with    the     Philistines    and    Amalekites. 

chs.  13-15. 
The  choosing  of  David  son  of  Jesse,    ch.  16. 
David  and  Goliath,    ch.  17. 
Saul  jealous  of  David,    ch.  18. 
David  and  Jonathan,    chs.  19-20. 
Saul  pursues  David,     chs.  21-23. 
David  spares  Saul's  life.    ch.  24. 
The  Death  of  Samuel.    25:1. 
Story  of  Nabal  and  Abigail.    25:2-43. 
David  spares  Saul's  life.     ch.  26. 
David  flees  to  the  Philistines  who  mistrust  him. 

chs.  27-29. 
Saul  consults  the  woman  of  Endor.    ch.  28. 
David  defeats  the  Amalekites.    ch.  30. 
Saul  defeated  and  slain  at  Gilboa.    ch.  31. 

//  Samuel 

1.  David's  lament  over  Saul  and  Jonathan.     1:1-27. 

2.  David  made  King  of  Judah,  Ish-bosheth  King  of  Israel. 

2:1-32. 

3.  War  between  house  of  David   and   house   of  Saul. 

3:1-4:12. 

4.  David  made  King  of  Israel.    5:1-25. 

5.  The  Ark  brought  to  Jerusalem.     Plans  for  the  Temple. 

6:1-7:29. 

6.  Victories    over    Philistia,    Moab,    Zobah    and    Syria. 

8:1-18. 

7.  Kindness  to  Mephibosheth.    9:1-13. 

8.  War  with  Ammon  and  Syria.    10:1-19. 

9.  Story  of  Bath-sheba.     11:1-12:31. 

10.  Story  of  Tamar.     13:1-19. 

11.  Story  of  Absalom.     13:20-19:43. 

12.  Incident  of  Sheba,  son  of  Bichri.    20:1-24. 

13.  War  with  the  Philistines.    21:1-22. 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I45 

14.  Song  of  Deliverance  and  last  words  of  David.    22:1- 

23  7. 

15.  List  of  David's  mighty  men.     23:8-39. 

16.  Incidents  of  the  numbering  of  the  people,  and  of  the 

threshing-floor  of  Araunah.    24:1-25. 

/  and  II  Kings 

These  books  are  in  the  Septuagint,  and  the  Vulgate, 
called  III  and  IV  Kings.  The  history  of  the  reign  of 
Solomon,  and  his  building  of  the  Temple  is  narrated  in 
I  Kings  2:13-11:43.  Solomon's  reign  was  one  of  splen- 
dor. Suetonius  said  of  Augustus,  "He  found  Rome 
brick,  and  left  it  marble."  So  Solomon  built  in  Jerusa- 
lem not  only  the  marvelous  Temple,  for  which  David 
had  gathered  material,  but  also  a  palace  for  himself,  even 
larger  than  the  Temple,  and  similarly  constructed  of  the 
most  costly  wood  and  stone,  I  Kings  6:1-7:51.  He 
also  built  cities,  II  Chronicles  8:3-6.  After  the  death  of 
Solomon,  there  happened^  an  event  of  far-reaching  con- 
sequences, the  division  of  the  kingdom,  resulting  from 
the  revolt  of  ten  tribes,  under  Jeroboam,  against  the 
tyranny  of  Rehoboam,  who  rejected  the  advice  of  the 
old  men  and  threatened  to  increase  the  burdens  of  the 
people.  Jeroboam  withdrew  and  built  Shechem,  where 
he  dwelt.  In  order  to  prevent  the  people  from  returning 
to  Rehoboam,  because  the  Temple  was  at  Jerusalem, 
Jeroboam  made  two  calves  of  gold,  which  he  set  up 
"the  one  in  Beth-el,  and  the  other  put  he  in  Dan,"  and 
said,  "It  is  too  much  for  you  to  go  up  to  Jerusalem: 
behold  thy  gods,  O  Israel,  which  brought  thee  up  out  of 
the  land  of  Egypt."    I  Kings  12:25-29. 

Rehoboam  reigned  at  Jerusalem  over  Judah  and  Ben- 
jamin, as  King  of  Judah,  and  Jeroboam,  as  King  of 
Israel,  at  Shechem.    The  latter  was  the  place  in  which 


146  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  bones  of  Joseph  had  been  buried,  and  where  Joshua 
wrote  the  words  of  the  covenant  with  the  people  "in 
the  book  of  the  law  of  God,  and  he  took  a  great  stone, 
and  set  it  up  there  under  the  oak  that  was  by  the  sanc- 
tuary of  Jehovah."  Joshua  24:26.  At  Nablus,  the 
ancient  Shechem,  is  preserved  a  famous  copy  of  the  sa- 
cred book  of  the  law  of  Moses.  The  existence  of  the 
two  kingdoms  gave  rise  to  much  trouble  in  succeeding 
generations,  and  the  existence  of  two  centers  of  the  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah  was  likewise  productive  of  many  con- 
troversies, and  raised  such  questions  as  that  of  the  wo- 
man at  the  well: — 

"Our  fathers  worshipped  in  this  mountain;  and  ye  say, 
that  in  Jerusalem  is  the  place  where  men  ought  to  worship." 
John  4:20. 

From  the  division  of  the  tribes,  on  the  death  of  Solo- 
mon, the  history  becomes  rather  more  complicated,  be- 
cause both  kingdoms,  and  particularly  their  quarrels, 
have  to  be  considered  by  the  historiographer.  We  have, 
therefore,  in  the  books  of  Kings,  and  also  in  the  later 
books  of  Chronicles,  references  to  the  records  kept  in 
the  two  kingdoms  concerning  their  kings,  for  example : — 

"The  rest  of  the  acts  of  Abijam,  and  all  that  he  did,  are 
they  not  written  in  the  book  of  the  chronicles  of  the  kings 
of  Judah.?"    I  Kings  15:7. 

But  of  Nadab  we  read : — 

"The  rest  of  the  acts  of  Nadab,  and  all  that  he  did,  are 
they  not  written  in  the  book  of  the  chronicles  of  the  kings 
of  Israel?"    I  Kings  15:31. 

Concerning  Solomon,  reference  is  made  to  a  book  of 
the  acts  of  Solomon,  I  Kings  11:41. 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I47 

The  book  of  Kings,  for  we  must  consider  it  one  book, 
and  not  two,  may  be  divided  into  three  parts : — 

/  and  II  Kings 

1.  The  reign  of  Solomon.    I  Kings.    1:1-11:43. 

2.  The  history  of  the  divided  kingdoms,  Judah  and  Israel, 

from  Rehoboam  and  Jeroboam  to  the  fall  of  Samaria, 
and  captivity  of  Israel  under  the  Assyrians.  I  Kings 
I2:i-Il.  Kings  17:41. 

3.  The  history  of  Judah  from  Hezekiah  to  the  fall  of 

Jerusalem,  and  captivity  of  Judah  under  the  Baby- 
lonians.   II  Kings  18:1-25:30. 

Included  in  Kings  are  stories  of  the  prophets  Elijah, 
I  Kings  17:1-11  Kings  2:18,  and  Elisha,  his  companion 
and  successor,  I  Kings  19:16-11  Kings  13:21,  which  do 
not  appear  in  Chronicles,  which  contains  no  account  of 
Elisha,  and  mentions  Elijah  in  only  one  passage,  II 
Chronicles  21:12,  in  which  a  message  from  "Elijah  the 
prophet"  to  Jehoram  is  given. 

THE    LATER   HISTORIES 

With  the  close  of  II  Kings  we  come  to  the  end  of  the 
older  series  of  historical  books,  called  by  the  Jews  the 
"Former  Prophets,"  which  deal  with  events  prior  to 
what  was  known  as  the  Babylonian  exile,  which  followed 
the  destruction  of  Jerusalem.  With  that  event  ter- 
minated a  distinct  period  of  Jewish  history.  The  book 
of  Daniel  opens  with  a  reference  to  the  captivity  of 
Jehoiakim  King  of  Judah  In  Babylonia,  while  Ezekiel 
begins  with  mention  of  the  captivity  of  Jehoiachin  the 
«on  of  Jehoiakim,  II  Kings  24:6,  a  later  event,  but 
Ezekiel  was  included  by  the  Jews  among  the  "  Prophets," 


148  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

while  Daniel  appears  in  the  third  Hebrew  collection,  or 
the  "  Writings." 

Chronicles,  Ezra-N ehemiah 

Chronicles-Ezra-Nehemiah  are  a  series  of  historical 
books  found  in  the  third  collection.  To  the  Chronicles 
was  given  in  the  Septuagint  and,  following  it,  in  the  Vul- 
gate, the  title  "  Paraleipomenon,"  or  "  thingS-omitted," 
thus  indicating  that  the  books  were  thought  to  supple- 
ment Samuel-Kings.  Ezra  and  Nehemiah  do  supple- 
ment the  older  series  in  giving  us  accounts  of  what 
happened  later  than  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  the 
Babylonians.  Nehemiah  differs  from  the  other  histor- 
ical books  in  the  fact  that  it  is  written  in  the  first  person. 

The  later  series  of  books  makes  use  of  the  earlier  as 
sources  of  information.  Writings,  now  lost,  were  also 
used,  as  the  references  to  them  show.  A  glance  at  the 
historical  books  will  indicate  how  largely  the  later  series 
duplicates  the  earlier,  and  also  how  much  of  the  mat- 
ter contained  in  the  earlier  books  is  wholly  omitted,  as 
not  essential  to  the  purpose  of  the  later  writers,  which 
was,  evidently,  to  set  forth  clearly  all  that  concerned 
particularly  the  Temple  at  Jerusalem  and  the  worship 
of  Jehovah  there.  David  is  glorified  and  his  many 
sins  passed  over  silently.  That  much  was  purposely 
omitted  is  to  be  inferred  from  the  numerous  references 
to  other  books  in  which  further  information  concern- 
ing kings  may  be  found. 

Beginning  the  detailed  history  with  the  death  of  Saul, 
and  the  accession  of  David,  the  opening  chapters 
having  been  genealogical,  from  Adam  to  the  family 
of  Saul,  the  books  of  Chronicleu  continue  through 
the  reigns  of  David  and  of  Solomon  to  that  of  Zede- 
kiah,  king  of  Judah,  omitting,  except  when  it  could 


BIBLICAL  HISTORY  I49 

not  well  be  avoided,  as  in  the  account  of  Jeroboam's 
rebellion,  II  Chronicles,  ch.  lo,  or  the  story  of  Ahaziah, 
II  Chronicles  22:7-9,  mention  of  the  northern  king- 
dom of  Israel.  Even  the  ending  of  that  kingdom  by 
the  fall  of  Samaria,  and  the  carrying  off  of  the  ten  tribes 
into  captivity  in  Assyria,  of  which  we  read  in  II  Kings 
is  not  referred  to  in  II  Chronicles. 

That  the  purpose  of  the  author  of  Chronicles  was 
not  only  to  record  facts,  but  also  to  teach  moral  les- 
sons drawn  from  the  facts,  is  indicated  in  such  passages 
as  the  following: — 

"So  Saul  died  for  his  trespass  which  he  committed  against 
Jehovah,  because  of  the  word  of  Jehovah  which  he  kept  not; 
and  also  for  that  he  asked  counsel  of  one  that  had  a  familiar 
spirit,  to  inquire  thereby,  and  inquired  not  of  Jehovah:  there- 
fore he  slew  him,  and  turned  the  kingdom  unto  David  the 
son  of  Jesse."    I  Chronicles  10:13. 

There  is  no  such  statement  in  I  Samuel,  ch.  31,  in  the 
account  of  Saul's  death.  Another  passage,  indicating  a 
difference  in  purpose  between  the  later  historian  and 
the  earlier,  is  found  in  the  story  of  Uzziah  who  was  a 
leper.    In  II  Chronicles  we  read: — 

"But  when  he  [Uzziah]  was  strong,  his  heart  was  lifted 
up,  so  that  he  did  corruptly,  and  he  trespassed  against 
Jehovah  his  God;  for  he  went  into  the  temple  of  Jehovah 
to  bum  incense  upon  the  altar  of  incense.  And  Azariah  the 
priest  went  in  after  him,  and  with  him  fourscore  priests  of 
Jehovah,  that  were  valiant  men:  and  they  withstood  Uzziah 
the  king,  and  said  unto  him,  It  pertaineth  not  unto  thee, 
Uzziah,  to  bum  incense  unto  Jehovah,  but  to  the  priests  the 
sons  of  Aaron,  that  are  consecrated  to  burn  incense:  go  out 
of  the  sanctuary;  for  thou  hast  trespassed;  neither  shall  it 
be  for  thine  honor  from  Jehovah  God.    Then  Uzziah  was 


150  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

wroth;  and  he  had  a  censer  in  his  hand  to  bum  incense;  and 
while  he  was  wroth  with  the  priests,  the  leprosy  brake  forth 
in  his  forehead  before  the  priests  in  the  house  of  Jehovah, 
beside  the  altar  of  incense."    II  Chronicles  26:16-19. 

Concerning  Uzziah  (Azariah),  we  read  in  II  Kings: — 

"And  Jehovah  smote  the  king,  so  that  he  was  a  leper  unto 
the  day  of  his  death,  and  dwelt  in  a  separate  house."  II 
Kings  15:5. 

No  mention  is  made  of  the  incident  of  his  attempting 
to  burn  incense  in  the  Temple,  although  it  is  stated 
that:- 

"The  people  still  sacrificed  and  burnt  incense  in  the  high 
places."    II  Kings  15:4. 

Other  passages  in  which  the  Chronicles  drew  moral  les- 
sons from  the  facts  are  I  Chronicles  15:13;  II  Chron- 
icles 12:1-12,  17:10,  21:10-15,  22:7-9,  24:23-25,  25:20- 
24,  28:5,  19,  22,  23,  33:11-13;  35:21-23;  36:12-21.  In 
each  case  calamity  and  affliction  are  attributed  di- 
rectly to  disregard  of  the  laws  of  Jehovah. 
An  outline  is  as  follows: — 


I  Chronicles 

1.  Genealogies.     Adam — sons  of  Azel,  I  Chronicles  1:1- 

9:44. 

2.  Death  of  Saul.    10:1-14. 

3.  History  of  David.     11:1-29:30. 

Capture  of  Jerusalem.     1 1 :4-9. 
Removal  of  the  Ark  from  Kiriath-jearim  to  Jeru- 
salem.    13:1-16:6. 
Psalm  of  Thanksgiving.    16:7-36. 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  I5I 

Plans  and  preparations  for  the  Temple,  17:1-29: 

21. 
Death  of  David  and  accession  of  Solomon.     29: 

22-30. 

//  Chronicles 

1.  Solomon's  prayer  for  wisdom,  in  the  tent  of  Moses  at 

Gibeon.    1:1-17. 

2.  Solomon  announces  his  purpose  to  build  the  Temple. 

2:1-18. 

3.  The  building  of  the  Temple.    3:1-4:22. 

4.  Bringing  the  Ark  to  the  Temple.    5:1-14. 

5.  Solomon's  address  and  prayer  of  dedication.    6:1-42. 

6.  The  glory  of  Jehovah  fills  Jehovah's  house.    7:1-22. 

7.  Solomon's  building  of  cities,  religious  observances,  etc. 

8:1-18. 

8.  The  visit  of  the  Queen  of  Sheba  to  Solomon,  his  wealth, 

and  death.    9:1-31. 

9.  The  revolt  of  Jeroboam.    10:1-19. 

10.  The  reign  of  Rehoboam  at  Jerusalem.     11:1-12:16. 

11.  The  reigns  over  Judah  from  Abijah  to  Zedekiah.    13: 

1-36:16. 

12.  Destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Temple,  and  cap- 

tivity of  Judah.    36:17-21. 

Ezra 

1.  Cyrus  restores  the  Temple  treasures,  and  orders  the 

Temple  rebuilt.    1:1-1 1. 

2.  List  of  those  who  returned  from  Babylon.    2:1-70. 

3.  Worship  resumed  at  the  altar  in  Jerusalem.    3:1-13. 

4.  Rebuilding  of  the  Temple  hindered.      Correspondence 

with  Artaxerxes.    4:1-24. 

5.  Rebuilding  of  the  Temple  resumed.    5:1-6:22. 

6.  Arrival  of  Ezra  in  Jerusalem  with  letter  from  Arta- 

xerxes.    7:1-28. 


152  A    BOOK   ABOUT    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

7.  List  of  those  who  returned  with  Ezra.    8:1-36. 

8.  Ezra's  confession  and  prayer.     Promise  of  the  people 

concerning  mixed  marriages.    9:1-10:44. 


Nehemiah 

1.  Nehemiah*s  prayer.     i:i-ii. 

2.  Nehemiah  views  the  ruins  of  Jerusalem.    2:1-20. 

3.  Nehemiah  rebuilds  the  wall,  in  spite  of  hindrances. 

3:1-6:19. 

4.  List  of  those  who  returned.    7:1-73. 

5.  Ezra  reads  the  law  of  Moses  to  the  people,  and  Nehe- 

miah addresses  them.    8:1-18. 

6.  The  Prayer  of  the  Levites.    9:1-38. 

7.  Names  of  those  who  sealed  the  covenant  with  Jehovah 

to  keep  the  Law  and  maintain  the  Temple  services. 
10:1-39. 

8.  Names  of  those  who  dwelt  in  Jerusalem.     11:1-36. 

9.  List  of  priests  and  Levites  who  came  with  Zerubbabel. 

12:1-26. 

10.  Dedication  of  the  wall,  and  arrangements  for  Temple 

service.     12:27-47. 

11.  Incident  of  Tobiah.    13:1-9. 

12.  Payment  of  tithes,  sabbath  observance,  mixed  mar- 

riages.   13:10-31. 

Ezra-Nehemiah  is  an  account  of  the  return  of  the 
captives  from  Babylonia,  under  the  leadership  of  Ze- 
rubbabel, the  restoration  of  Jerusalem,  the  reorgan- 
ization of  the  people,  and  the  second  visit  of  Nehe- 
miah to  Jerusalem  in  432  b.  c.  This  all  centered  in 
the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  and  the  reestablishment 
of  the  Temple  worship.  With  this  the  history  contained 
in  the  Scriptures  of  the  Jews  closes. 


BIBICAL   HISTORY  I53 

NEW  TESTAMENT  HISTORY 

The  Gospels 

In  the  New  Testament  are  five  books  that  are  his- 
torical, or,  perhaps  more  correctly,  biographical  since 
they  contain  not  national  history,  but  accounts  of  the 
lives,  words  and  deeds  of  Jesus  and  his  followers. 
They  are  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke,  John  and  Acts.  Four 
of  these  books  are  called  Gospels,  and  these  four  are 
distinguished  as  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  Matthew,  Mark 
and  Luke,  and  the  Fourth  Gospel,  John.  The  first 
three  give  accounts  of  the  life  of  Jesus,  dealing  particu- 
larly with  the  external  facts.  The  Fourth  deals  more 
with  the  spiritual  and  philosophical  aspects  of  the  per- 
sonality and  teachings  of  Jesus.  Another  distinction 
which  is  observed  is  that  the  Synoptic  Gospels  contain 
a  number  of  addresses  to  the  multitude,  and  many 
parables,  while  the  Fourth  contains  much  allegory,  and 
discourses  to  the  disciples,  and  individuals,  but  not 
the  multitude.  Of  the  authors  to  whom  Gospels  have 
commonly  been  attributed,  Matthew  and  John  were 
Apostles,  while  Mark  and  Luke  were  friends  of  the 
Apostles.  Luke  was  the  traditionally  accepted  author 
of  Acts,  as  he  was  of  the  Gospel,  which  is  known  by  his 
name.  He  is  called  "Luke  the  beloved  physician"  by 
Paul,  in  Colossians  4:14,  and  is  mentioned  in  II  Tim- 
othy 4:11,  and  Philemon,  v.  24.  He  was  in  close  relation- 
ship to  Paul,  and  therefore  in  a  position  to  know  about 
most  of  the  events  recorded  in  Acts.  His  qualifications 
as  a  historian  may  be  inferred,  from  the  two  books 
attributed  to  him,  and  especially  from  the  careful  state- 
ment with  which  the  Gospel  of  Luke  opens. 

Mark,  which  is  regarded  as  the  oldest  Gospel,  con- 
tains material  almost  all  of  which  appears  also  in  Mat- 


154  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

thew  and  Luke.  These  are  considerably  longer  and  con- 
tain accounts  of  the  life  of  Jesus  up  to  the  time  of  his 
baptism  by  John,  an  event  with  which  Mark  and  John 
both  begin,  the  latter  prefacing  his  Gospel  by  a  passage 
about  the  Logos  of  God  and  his  incarnation.  Mark  re- 
cords with  minute  detail  many  incidents  which,  while 
included  in  other  Gospels,  are  not  so  picturesquely  de- 
scribed, for  example,  no  one  but  Mark  records  the  an- 
ger of  Jesus  at  the  Scribes  and  Pharisees  when  he  healed 
the  withered  hand  on  the  Sabbath: — 

"And  when  he  had  looked  round  about  on  them  with  anger, 
being  grieved  at  the  hardening  of  their  heart,  he  saith  unto 
the  man,  Stretch  forth  thy  hand.  And  he  stretched  it  forth; 
and  his  hand  was  restored."    Mark  3 15. 

Mark  alone  records  the  miracle  of  the  healing  of  the 
deaf  man  with  the  impediment  in  his  speech,  and  the 
details  are  given: — 

"And  he  took  him  aside  from  the  multitude  privately, 
and  put  his  fingers  into  his  ears,  and  he  spat  and  touched  his 
tongue;  and  looking  up  to  Heaven,  he  sighed,  and  saith  unto 
him  Ephphatha,  that  is.  Be  opened.  And  his  ears  were 
opened,  and  the  bond  of  his  tongue  was  loosed,  and  he  spake 
plain."  Mark  7:33-35. 

Other  examples  of  this  quality  of  Mark  will  be  ap- 
parent to  anyone  who  will  compare  the  accounts  of  the 
same  incidents  as  given  in  Mark,  and  as  given  in  other 
Gospels. 

Matthew  is  sometimes  spoken  of  as  the  Gospel  for 
the  Jews,  as  Luke  is  called  the  Gospel  for  the  Gentiles, 
because  the  former  treats  of  Jesus  as  "the  son  of  David, 
the  son  of  Abraham,"  1:1,  and  has  much  to  say  of  the 


BIBLICAL   HISTORY  1 55 

establishment  of  a  Messianic  Kingdom  on  earth.  Luke's 
conception  is  broader  and  includes  the  whole  world. 
He  alone  records  the  sending  out  of  the  seventy.  Luke 
10:1-24.  Matthew  contains,  chs.  5,  6,  7,  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount.  The  version  in  Luke  is  incomplete  and  not 
continuous,  6:20-49,  11:9-13,  12:22-31,  but  contains, 
6:24-26,  sayings  of  denunciation  not  found  in  Matthew. 
In  Luke  are  accounts  of  the  childhood  and  early  man- 
hood of  Jesus  not  included  in  the  other  Gospels.  Luke 
alone  gives  the  parable  of  the  Good  Samaritan,  10:25- 
37,  and  has  more  to  say  than  the  others  about  miracles 
of  healing.  This  is  attributed  to  his  being  a  physician. 
The  Fourth  Gospel,  or  John,  spiritual,  philosophical  and 
esoteric,  is  addressed  in  large  part  to  the  disciples,  or 
to  individuals,  rather  than  to  the  multitude.  Examples 
of  this,  peculiar  to  John,  are  the  story  of  the  first  three 
disciples,  1:35-42;  the  call  of  Philip  and  Nathanael,  i: 
43-51;  the  miracle  of  Cana,  2:1-11;  the  conversation 
with  Nicodemus,  2:23-3:  21;  the  conversation  with 
the  woman  of  Samaria,  4:4-26;  the  man  at  the  pool  of 
Bethesda,  5:1-46;  the  discourse  on  the  Bread  of  Life, 
6:22-71;  the  visit  to  the  Feast  of  Tabernacles,  7:1-52; 
the  discourses  on  the  Light  of  the  World,  and  spiritual 
freedom,  8:12-59;  the  Good  Shepherd,  10:1-21;  the 
raising  of  Lazarus,  11:1-46;  the  farewell  discourses, 
chs.  14-17;  the  appearance  to  Thomas,  20:26-29; 
the  appearance  to  the  seven  disciples,  21:1-24.  Only 
by  making  a  "harmony"  of  the  Gospels  can  these 
extraordinary  differences  in  their  contents  be  made 
manifest.  While  there  are  four  Gospels,  they  are  so 
different  from  each  other,  with  all  their  similarities, 
that  we  could  not  omit  one  of  them  in  a  study  of  the 
life  and  words  of  Jesus  without  neglecting  material  of 
vital  importance. 


156  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  Acts  oj  the  Apostles 

The  book  of  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  attributed  to 
Luke,  opens  with  the  Ascension  and  incidents  connected 
with  it,  which  are  found  nowhere  else.  Luke  ends  with 
the  Ascension,  as  does  also  the  supplementary  passage, 
Mark  16:9-20,  but  it  is  not  referred  to  by  Matthew, 
and  is  mentioned  by  John  in  two  passages,  6:62,  20:17, 
as  foretold  by  Jesus,  but  not  as  occurring.  It  is  men- 
tioned also  in  Acts  2:33,34,  5*3i>  I  Peter  3:22;  Ephe- 
sians  2:6,  4:10;  I  Timothy  3:16,  but  it  is  interesting  to 
note  that  the  account  of  it  in  Acts  is  fuller  than  that 
given  in  the  Gospel  of  Luke. 

Acts  tells  us  of  the  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit  on  the 
day  of  Pentecost,  the  preaching  of  Peter  and  John, 
the  persecutions  and  diihculties  of  the  young  Church, 
the  martyrdom  of  Stephen,  the  conversion  of  the  Ethio- 
pian eunuch,  the  conversion  of  Saul,  the  imprisonment 
and  miraculous  release  of  Peter,  the  missionary  jour- 
neys, preaching  and  afflictions  of  Paul,  his  defense  be- 
fore Festus  and  Agrippa,  his  appeal  to  Caesar,  and 
his  perilous  journey  to  Rome. 

With  the  Ascension,  the  history  of  Christianity  en- 
tered upon  a  second  stage,  and  the  book  of  Acts  is  the 
record  of  the  events  which  happened  between  the  bodily 
disappearance  of  Jesus  in  the  cloud,  and  the  preaching 
of  Paul  in  Rome,  at  the  close  of  a  life  of  intrepid  courage 
amid  perils  of  all  kinds,  in  the  performance  of  his  duties 
as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  the  Gentiles,  as  well  as 
to  the  Jews. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BIBLICAL  STORIES 

Ruth,  Esther,  Jonah,  Tobit  and  Judith  form,  as  lit- 
erature, a  class  of  their  own  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
Apocrypha.  They  are  stories,  although  Jonah  was  by 
the  Jews  included  among  the  "  Minor  Prophets.''  Much 
of  the  historical  books  is  composed  of  stories  embedded 
in  the  structure  of  history. 

Ruth 

Ruth  and  Esther  are  two  short  prose  stories,  one 
purely  idyllic,  with  its  pictures  of  the  pastoral  life,  and 
its  wonderfully  beautiful  presentation  of  human  rela- 
tionships, the  other  verging  on  history.  Each  contains, 
as  its  chief  character,  an  extraordinary  young  woman. 
In  a  literary  way,  they  stand  out  distinct  from  the  other 
books  of  the  Old  Testament. 

Interpreted  by  some  as  a  parable  representing,  in  its 
different  characters,  God's  relations  to  sinners,  Ruth  is 
an  unexcelled  example  of  ancient  story-telling.  Its 
presence  in  the  Jewish  Scriptures  is  accounted  for,  what- 
ever other  good  reasons  may  be  assigned,  by  the  state- 
ment in  the  closing  verse: — 

"  Boaz  begat  Obed,  and  Obed  begat  Jesse,  and  Jesse  begat 
David."    Ruth  4:21-22. 

Ruth  and  Boaz  are  mentioned  as  the  great-grand- 
parents of  David  in  Matthew  i  :5,  and  Boaz  is  named 

157 


158  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

in  Luke  3 132,  thus  placing  the  time  of  the  story  of  Ruth 
about  a  hundred  years  before  David.  The  scene  is  in 
Bethlehem  of  Judea,  **the  city  of  David."  Just  what 
the  purpose,  if  any,  of  Ruth  may  be,  in  its  teachings 
concerning  the  much-discussed  question  of  marriage 
between  Jews  and  other  peoples,  as  set  forth  in  such 
passages  as  Deuteronomy  7:1-4,  23:3-6;  where  mixed 
marriages  are  forbidden,  or  Ezra  9:1-2,  where  the  fact 
of  mixed  marriages  is  recited  as  an  abomination,  we  do 
not  know,  but  it  is  worthy  of  note,  in  view  of  such  pas- 
sages, that  we  find  the  story  of  a  mixed  marriage  told 
with  no  intimation  that  such  a  practice  was  not  to  be 
approved. 

The  story  of  Ruth  may  bear  all,  or  none,  of  the  sec- 
ondary interpretations  that  have  been  given  to  it,  but 
it  remains,  on  account  of  its  simple  story  of  fidelity  and 
affection,  one  of  the  loveliest  pictures  that  we  have  of 
life  in  Palestine.  The  scene  is  laid  in  the  time  of  the 
judges,  and,  for  this  reason,  the  book  was,  in  the  Sep- 
tuagint,  placed  immediately  after  Judges,  although  in 
the  Hebrew  Scriptures  it  is  in  the  "Writings."  The 
contrast  between  the  peaceful  and  virtuous  life  of  the 
village  as  depicted  in  Ruth,  and  the  kind  of  life  repre- 
sented in  the  stories  of  Samson,  is  such  as  to  make  us 
realize  that  in  every  age,  however  disorderly  and  cor- 
rupt it  may  be,  the  ideas  and  practice  of  the  domestic 
virtues  are  always  to  be  found  in  lives  uninfluenced  in 
that  respect  by  the  irreligion  and  immorality  of  the 
time  by  which  they  may  be  surrounded.  Whatever 
may  be  the  date  at  which  Ruth  was  written,  we  find  the 
conception  of  the  religious  life  of  the  family  and  home 
similar  to  that  which  is  set  forth  in  Psalms  127,  128, 
133,  or  in  the  exquisite  picture  In  Proverbs  ch.  31  of  the 
"worthy  woman,"  on  whose  tongue  is  **the  law  of  kind- 


BIBLICAL    STORIES  1 59 

ness,"  whose  husband  ^^pralseth  her,"  whose  children 
'*call  her  blessed,"  *'a  woman  that  feareth  Jehovah." 
The  influence  of  the  book  of  Ruth  is  not  due  to  any- 
didactic  purpose  of  the  author,  except  that  of  setting 
forth  clearly  and  simply  the  characters  of  the  chief 
actors  in  it.  Transparent  virtue  is  displayed  by  Ruth 
with  her  unselfish  devotion,  which  led  her  to  adopt  the 
land  and  religion  of  her  mother-in-law  Naomi.  Orpah, 
the  other  daughter-in-law,  started  to  go  back  with  Na- 
omi and  Ruth,  but,  at  Naomi's  earnest  entreaty,  re- 
turned "unto  her  people  and  unto  her  God,"  but  Ruth 
went  with  Naomi  to  Bethlehem.  A  fact,  often  lost 
sight  of  in  reading  the  book  of  Ruth,  is  that  the  story  is 
about  the  love  of  a  young  woman  for  an  older  one,  a 
daughter-in-law  for  a  mother-in-law,  and  the  coming  of 
Ruth  to  Bethlehem,  where  she  would  be  among  an- 
other people  of  another  religion,  was  not  for  the  pur- 
pose of  claiming,  or  receiving,  the  benefits  of  the  Mosaic 
law  concerning  widows  without  sons.^  Naomi  specific- 
ally tells  Ruth  and  Orpah,  that  no  such  prospect  lay 
before  them  since  there  were  no  brothers  to  marry  the 
widows.  Ruth  knew  nothing  of  the  existence  of  the 
wealthy  Boaz.  She  simply  wanted  to  share  with  Na- 
omi such  life  as  might  still  be  before  them. 

The  poet  in  Psalm  45,  regards  it  as  necessary  to  say 
to  the  queen: — 

"Forget  also  thine  own  people,  and  thy  father's  house." 

Ruth  needs  no  such  advice  and,  even  against  the 
urging  of  Naomi,  adheres  to  her  decision.  If  Ruth  had 
been  living  in  Palestine  with  Chilion  the  son  of  Naomi, 
she  might  perhaps  have  desired  to  continue  to  live  there. 

*  See  Deuteronomy  25:5-10. 


l6o  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

It  was,  however,  extraordinary  for  her  to  go,  as  a  child- 
less widow,  away  from  her  people  and  her  God.  Naomi 
must  have  been  a  wonderful  mother-in-law  to  have,  not 
only  Ruth,  but  Orpah  as  well,  determine  to  accompany 
her  in  her  poverty  back  to  her  own  home,  but  the  love 
of  Ruth  was  stronger  and  more  ideal  than  that  of  Or- 
pah, great  as  the  love  of  the  latter  was  for  Naomi. 
Orpah  turned  back  to  her  own  people  and  her  own  God, 
while  Ruth  continued  her  journey  with  the  decision 
which  marks  great  souls,  and  with  the  devotion  to 
Naomi  which  has  made  her  name  revered  for  all  time. 
Ruth  as  depicted  in  this  ancient  story  stands  forth  as 
one  of  the  world's  great  types  of  character,  an  example 
of  unflinching  determination,  with  unselfish  love  as  its 
only  motive. 

"And  Ruth  said,  Entreat  me  not  to  leave  thee,  and  to 
return  from  following  after  thee;  for  whither  thou  goest,  I 
will  go;  and  where  thou  lodgest,  I  will  lodge;  thy  people  shall 
be  my  people,  and  thy  God  my  God;  where  thou  diest,  will 
I  die,  and  there  will  I  be  buried:  Jehovah  do  so  to  me,  and 
more  also,  if  aught  but  death  part  thee  and  me."  Ruth 
1:16-17. 

The  fact  that  Naomi  made  to  Ruth  no  mention  of 
Boaz  is  also  not  without  significance.  She  is  proud  and 
returns  to  her  own  people  asking  no  favors  of  anyone, 
but  saying  simply,  "call  me  not  Naomi,  call  me  Mara; 
for  the  Almighty  hath  dealt  very  bitterly  with  me." 
1 120.  Ruth  asked  of  Naomi  permission  to  go  to  the 
field  and  glean  "after  him  in  whose  sight  I  shall  find 
favor." 

"And  she  went,  and  came  and  gleaned  in  the  field  after 
the  reapers:  and  her  hap  was  to  light  on  the  portion  of  the 
field  belonging  unto  Boaz."    2:3. 


•      BIBLICAL    STORIES  l6l 

Naomi  had  not  asked  help  of  Boaz,  nor  had  she  in 
any  way  suggested  to  Ruth  that  Boaz  might  assist  them. 
The  gleaning  of  Ruth  in  the  field  of  Boaz  was  not  done 
knowingly.  It  was  "her  hap."  This  is  brought  out 
clearly  in  a  passage  which  reveals  much  concerning  the 
character  of  Naomi.  When  Ruth  returned  from  the 
field  bringing  the  barley  she  had  gleaned: — 

"Her  mother-in-law  said  unto  her,  Where  hast  thou 
gleaned  today  ?    and  where  hast  thou  wrought  ? " 

Ruth  told  her: — 

"The  man's  name  with  whom  I  wrought  today  is  Boaz." 
Ruth  2:17-19. 

We  have  then  from  the  lips  of  Naomi  Instant  recogni- 
tion of  the  goodness  of  Jehovah  who  had  brought  it 
about : — 

"Blessed  be  he  of  Jehovah,  who  hath  not  left  off  his  kind- 
ness to  the  living  and  to  the  dead.**    Ruth  2:20. 

Recognizing  the  hand  of  Jehovah  in  what  had  oc- 
curred, Naomi  then,  and  apparently  not  until  then, 
tells  Ruth  that  Boaz  was  a  kinsman.  But,  even  yet, 
no  appeal  is  made  to  Boaz.  His  kindness  leads  Naomi 
to  tell  Ruth  how  to  proceed  to  win  his  favor,  but  this  is 
done  without  letting  him  know  who  she  was.  The  good- 
will of  Boaz  was  shown,  not  because  Ruth  was  a  kins- 
woman, in  which  case  he  would  have  been  under 
some  obligation  to  show  favor,  but  because  he  was 
a  man  of  noble  character.  The  character  of  Ruth  was 
known — "The  city  of  my  people  doth  know  that  thou 
art  a  worthy  woman,"  3:11. 


l62  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  relationship  of  Boaz  to  Ruth  serves  to  bring  out 
yet  more  strongly  the  character  of  Boaz  who,  after  a 
nearer  kinsman  had  refused  to  buy  the  field,  when  he 
heard  that  he  must,  with  it,  take  Ruth  and  "raise  up 
the  name  of  the  dead,"  purchases  the  field  and  takes 
Ruth  for  his  wife. 

Commentators  generally  call  attention  to  the  pictures 
of  the  life  of  Bethlehem,  the  elders,  sitting  near  the 
gate,  hearing  Boaz  and  the  near-kinsman  discuss  the 
sale  of  the  land  by  Naomi,  and  witnessing  the  purchase 
of  it  by  Boaz,  after  the  near-kinsman  had  given  up  his 
right;  also  to  the  scene  of  the  return  of  Naomi,  when 
the  women  gather  around  and  ask,  *'Is  this  Naomi?"; 
and  to  the  interest  of  '*the  women  her  neighbors"  in 
the  child  of  Ruth.  The  note  of  the  author,  writing  in  a 
later  age,  or  of  some  editor  concerning  the  custom  of 
giving  a  shoe  in  confirmation  of  an  exchange  shows  an 
interest  in  old  customs  and  a  desire  that  the  knowledge 
of  them  should  not  die  out: — 

"Now  this  was  the  custom  in  former  time  in  Israel  con- 
cerning redeeming  and  concerning  exchanging,  to  confirm 
all  things:  a  man  drew  off  his  shoe  and  gave  it  to  his  neighbor; 
and  this  was  the  manner  of  attestation  in  Israel."  Ruth 
4:7. 

The  fact  that  a  Moabitess,  one  of  another  people,  and 
of  another  religion,  could  come  into  Palestine  as  a  wor- 
shipper of  Jehovah  and  win  from  "all  the  city"  of  Beth- 
lehem the  praise  "a  worthy  woman"  and  that  the  de- 
vout Boaz  "a  mighty  man  of  wealth,"  took  her  for  his 
wife,  is  not  without  its  important  meaning  to  a  people 
who  thought,  as  the  Jews  did,  that  all  other  peoples 
were  inferior  to  them. 


BIBLICAL   STORIES  163 

Esther 

Totally  different  from  Ruth  in  purpose  and  contents, 
is  the  story  of  Esther.  Here  the  purpose  is  not  to  tell 
a  story  in  order  to  delineate  human  characters  and  qual- 
ities, although  much  of  this  is  done,  but  to  give  an  ac- 
count of  an  incident,  or  series  of  incidents,  in  the  history 
of  the  Jews  living  in  Persia,  in  which  a  young  Jewish 
woman,  who,  because  of  her  beauty,  had  become  the 
chosen  queen  of  Ahasuerus,  (identified  as  Xerxes,  485- 
465  B.  c.)  saved  her  people  from  massacre  by  the  order 
of  Haman,  who  himself,  and  his  ten  sons  after  him,  were 
hanged  on  the  gallows  that  he  had,  by  decree  of  Ahas- 
uerus, prepared  for  Mordecai  the  Jew.  In  celebration 
of  this  deliverance  was  instituted  the  feast  of  Purim  or 
the  "lots"  as  we  are  told: — 

"And  Mordecai  wrote  these  things,  and  sent  letters  unto  all 
the  Jews  that  were  in  all  the  provinces  of  the  king  Ahasuerus, 
both  nigh  and  far,  to  enjoin  them  that  they  should  keep  the 
fourteenth  day  of  the  month  Adar,  and  the  fifteenth  day  of 
the  same,  yearly  .  .  .  because  Haman  .  .  .  the  enemy  of  all 
the  Jews,  had  plotted  against  the  Jews  to  destroy  them,  and 
had  cast  Pur,  that  is,  the  lot,  to  consume  them  .  .  .  where- 
fore they  called  these  days  Purim,  after  the  name  of  Pur 
.  .  .  And  the  commandment  of  Esther  confirmed  these  mat- 
ters of  Purim;  and  it  was  written  in  the  book."  Esther 
9:20-3£. 

The  earliest  reference,  after  Esther,  to  this  feast.  Is 
in  an  account  of  the  defeat  of  Nicanor: — 

"And  they  all  ordained  with  a  common  decree  ...  to 
mark  with  honour  the  thirteenth  day  of  the  twelfth  month 
(it  is  called  Adar  in  the  Syrian  tongue),  the  day  before  the 
day  of  Mordecai."    II  Maccabees  15:36. 


164  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  fact  that  Esther  does  not  contain  the  name  of 


Qodj^and  is  purely  secular  history, "all  references  to  re- 
ligion being  conspicuously  absent,  and  even  the  deliver- 
ance of  the  Jews  being  nowhere  attributed  to  Jehovah, 
as  is  customary  in  all  other  parts  of  the  Scriptures, 
caused  the  early  Christian  Church  to  doubt  the  pro- 
priety of  including  it  among  the  Scriptures.  Even 
among  the  Jews,  some  did  not  esteem^-iJiJiighly,  al- 
though, later,  special  importance  was  attached  to  it  and 
it  was  even  associated  with  the  Law  of  Moses. 

In  the  Septuagint  version  are  ten  additional  verses 
relating  a  dream  of  Mordecai,  beginning  "Then  Morde- 
cai  said  God  hatlidbne  th'ese  things,"  which  the  Vul- 
gate, and,  following  it,  the  Douay  Version,  include,  add- 
ing also  the  additional  chapters  found  in  the  Apocrypha. 
These  chapters  were  detached  by  Jerome  from  the  be- 
ginning of  the  book,  where  they  appeared  in  ancient 
Greek  and  Latin  versions,  and  placed  at  the  end. 
They  contain  another  version  of  the  dream  of  Mordecai, 
prayefs-  of  Mordecai  and  Esther,  which  supply  the  re- 
ligious elemeat  lacking  in  the  canonical  Jewish  book 
and  the  letter  of  Artaxerxes. 

There  are  jtwo, parts  of  the  book  of  Esther,  the  first 
introductory^  to  reveal  the  character  of  Ahasuerus, 
and  to  explain  how  Esther  became  queen,  by  relat- 
ing the  story  of  Vashti,  who,  as  a  result  of  her  refusal  to 
obey  the  king,  was  deposed,  because,  as  Memucan 
said: — 

"Vashti  the  queen  hath  not  done  wrong  to  the  king  only, 
but  also  to  all  the  princes,  and  to  all  the  peoples  that  are  in 
all  the  provinces  of  the  king  Ahasuerus.  For  this  deed  of 
the  queen  will  come  abroad  unto  all  women,  to  make  their 
husbands  contemptible  in  their  eyes,  when  it  shall  be  re- 
ported, The  king  Ahasuerus  commanded  Vashti  the  queen 


BIBLICAL    STORIES  165 

to  be  brought  in  before  him,  but  she  came  not.**     Esther 
1:16-17. 

The  second  part  of  the  story  begins : — 

"There  was  a  certain  Jew  in  Shushan  the  palace,  whose 
name  was  Mordecai  .  .  .  who  had  been  carried  away  from 
Jerusalem  with  the  captives  that  had  been  carried  away 
with  Jeconiah  king  of  Judah^  .  .  .  and  he  brought  up  .  .  . 
Esther,  his  uncle's  daughter."    Esther  2:5-7. 

Esther,  chosen  for  the  king's  harem,  was  by  the 
king  chosen  to  be  queen  instead  of  Vashti,  but,  on  the 
advice  of  Mordecai,  she  did  not  make  known  to  the 
king  "  her  people  nor  her  kindred,"  2  :io.  Mordecai  was 
not  known  to  Haman  as  a  Jew,  until  the  king's  ser- 
vants revealed  the  fact  that  Mordecai  refused  to  bow 
down  to  Haman,  as  the  other  servants  did,  in  obedience 
to  the  king's  command.  The  servants  were  endeavor- 
ing to  secure  the  favor  of  Haman  by  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  Mordecai  was  a  Jew.  Haman 
desired  to  advance  his  own  interests  with  the  king,  and 
used  the  incident  of  Mordecai's  affront  to  accomplish 
his  purpose,  under  the  cover  of  loyalty  to  his  king  and 
people,  and,  he  wished  also,  to  secure  revenge  for  his 
own  wounded  vanity  by  putting  to  death  not  only 
Mordecai,  who  had  insulted  him,  but  also  the  other 
Jews,  against  whom  no  one  but  himself  seemed  to  have 
felt  any  hostility.  He  would  slaughter  a  whole  people 
to  satisfy  a  personal  grudge  or  ambition.  Haman  sud^ 
denly  discovers  that  the  Jews  had  been  following  cus- 
toms of  their  own,  which  differed  from  those  of  the  Per- 
sians, and  which  did  not  conform  to  the  laws  of  the  king. 
He  makes  this  the  basis  of  an  appeal  to  the  vanity  of 
^  Jehoiachin,  II  Kings,  24:6. 


l66  A    BOOK    ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  king  by  calling  ^atteatLon  to  it  as  an  infringement 
of  the  royal  xiignity.  The  same  kind  of  appeal  had 
proved  successful  against  Vashti.  Haman  promises  the 
king  ten  thousand  talents  of  silver,  doubtless  to  be 
taken  from  the  Jews.  The  plea  of  Haman  was  legally 
unanswerable,  and  Ahasuerus,  won  also  by  Haman's 
flattery,  and  desirous  of  rewarding  this  loyal  courtier, 
orders  the  destruction  of  the  Jews,  but  tells  Haman 
"the  silver  is  given  to  thee."  The  fatal  decree  was  is- 
sued and  Mordecai  heard  of  it.  Here  ends  the  first  act 
of  the  story  of  Haman. 

The  counter-plot  now  begins.  Mordecai  reveals  the 
plot  to  Esther,  giving  her  a  copy  of  the  decree  against 
the  Jews  and  calling  her  attention  to  the  fact  that  they 
both  must  die  in  accordance  with  the  decree.  At  this 
point  in  the  story  we  have  the  nearest  approach  to  the 
usual  attitude  of  the  Jew  towards  Jehovah,  as  we  see  it 
set  forth  in  the  Old  Testament.  Singularly  enough  there 
is  no  mention  of  the  name  of  Jehovah  which  seems  to 
have  been  intentionally  avoided,  for  we  read : — 

"For  if  thou  altogether  holdest  thy  peace  at  this  time, 
then  will  relief  and  deliverance  arise  to  the  Jews  from  an- 
other place,  but  thou  and  thy  father's  house  will  perish: 
and  who  knoweth  whether  thou  art  not  come  to  the  kingdom 
[i.  e.  thou  hast  become  queen]  for  such  a  time  as  this?" 
Esther  4:14. 

The  counter-plot  is  now  arranged.  It  depends  for 
its  success  upon  the  power  of  Esther  the  queen,  a  perr 
son  condemned  to  death  by  the  decree,  but  protected, 
as  yet,  by  the  fact  that  she  was  not  known  to  be  a  Jew- 
ess, against  the  vindictive  and  powerful  Haman,  who 
had  already  secured  from  the  king  the  publication,  in 
every  province,  of  a  decree,  which,  according  to  Persian 


BIBLICAL    STORIES  167 

law,  when  published,  was  Irrevocable.  In  the  case  of 
Vashti,  her  deposition  was  urged  lest  the  dignity  of  the 
king  and  all  other  husbands  suifer,  if  disobedience  were 
not  punished.  Even  a  queen,  and  an  extraordinarily 
beautiful  one,  as  Vashti  was,  could  not  with  impunity 
disobey  a  merely  whimsical  order  of  her  husband. 
What  possible  chance  then  had  Esther  to  prevent  the 
execution,  not  of  a  private  order  of  her  husband,  but 
of  a  royal  decree  ?  No  modern  writer,  cunningly  though 
he  may  have  constructed  his  plot,  ever  presented  for 
solution  a  more  difficult  problem.  We  now  see  that  the 
story  of  Vashti  is  not  merely  for  the  purpose  of  explain- 
ing how  Esther  happened  to  become  queen.  It  has  a 
very  definite  meaning  in  showing  how  apparently  hope- 
less was  the  situation  by  which  Esther  was  confronted, 
and  In  which  upon  her  alone  depended  the  lives  of  all 
of  her  race  in  Persia. 

The  first_step  In  the  solution  is  the  scene  In  which 
Esther  appears  before  the  king.  Before  that  scene  we 
are  asked  to  picture  In  Imagination  all  the  Jews  In 
Shushan  gathered  in  solemn  assembly  fasting  for  three 
days  and  nights.  It  is  not  said  that  they  were  pray- 
ing, but  they  were  "fasting,"  and  Esther  herself  and 
her  maidens  likewise  fasted.  It  was  a  dramatic  scene 
when  Ahasuerus  held  out  his  scepter  to  Esther  and 
promised,  in  his  love  and  admiration  for  her,  to  grant 
any  request  she  might  make,  "even  to  the  half  of  the 
kingdom,"  but  the  Jews  were  still  in  precisely  the  posi- 
tion they  were  before,  since  even  the  king  himself 
could  not  revoke  his  own  decree.  Esther  could,  however, 
under  the  king's  promise,  punish  Haman,  and  this  she 
proceeded  to  do,  but  not  at  once  by  any  direct  attack. 
She  was^  a  deep  thinker  and  her  sense  of  justice  had  been 
outraged  by  the  plot  of  Haman  against  her  people. 


l68  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

She  remembered  Mordecai  and  his  loyalty  to  the  king 
in  revealing  to  the  king,  through  her,  a  plot  against  his 
life,  2:21-22.  Mordecai  must  be  honored,  and  Haman 
humiliated,  and  this  Esther  accomplished.  She  re- 
quested the  presence  of  the  king  and  Haman  at  a  ban- 
quet, but  when  the  king  asked  her  to  tell  him  what  her 
petition  was,  she  postponed  her  reply  until  the  next 
day,  and  invited  the  king  and  Haman  to  a  second  ban- 
quet. Haman,  as  it  was  intended  that  he  should  be, 
was  elated  by  receiving  such  extraordinary  signs  of 
favor,  and  told  his  wife  and  his  friends: — 

"Yea,  Esther  the  queen  did  let  no  man  come  in  with  the 
king  unto  the  banquet  that  she  had  prepared  but  myself; 
and  tomorrow  also  am  I  invited  by  her  together  with 
the  king.  Yet  all  this  availeth  me  nothing,  so  long  as 
I  see  Mordecai  the  Jew  sitting  at  the  king's  gate."  Esther 
5:12-13. 

Haman  was  disturbed  by  the  presence  of  Mordecai, 
and  knowing  that  the  life  of  all  Jews  was  forfeited  by 
the  decree,  he  discussed  with  his  wife  Zeresh,  and  his 
friends,  the  way  to  get  rid  of  Mordecai.  They  suggest 
the  hanging  of  Mordecai  on  a  gallows  specially  built  for 
the  purpose,  so  that  Haman,  then,  with  this  disturber 
of  his  pride  and  importance  out  of  the  way,  might  go 
in  "merrily  with  the  king  unto  the  banquet."  This  is 
an  additional  incident  in  the  plan  of  Haman.  Mordecai 
his  enemy  is  to  be  punished  separately. 

/r  But  the  service  that  Mordecai  had  rendered  in  sav- 
ing the  king's  life  comes  forcibly  to  the  attention  of 
Ahasuerus,  who,  during  a  sleepless  night,  has  read  to 
him  the  chronicles,  in  which  the  plot  against  him  was 
recorded.  The  account  arouses  him  to  the  idea  that 
Mordecai  had  never  been  rewarded  for  it.    The  teller 


BIBLICAL    STORIES  169 

of  the  story  now,  with  wonderful  skill,  presents  to  us 
pictures  of  Haman  waiting  in  the  outer  court  to  "speak  , 
unto  the  king  to  hang  Mordecai  on  the  gallows  that  / 
he  had  prepared  for  him,"  6:4,  and  of  the  king,  likewise 
with  Mordecai  in  his  mind,  asking  Haman,  who  has 
been  admitted  to  his  presence,  "What  shall  be  done 
unto  the  man  whom  the  king  delighteth  to  honor? " 
With  that  question  comes  the  beginning  of  Haman's 
punishment.  Thinking  of  nothing  but  himself  and 
not  unnaturally  elated  by  the  apparent  favor  of 
the  queen  he  suddenly  finds,  in  another  intensely 
dramatic  situation,  that  it  is  not  himself,  but  the 
man  he  hates,  Mordecai,  the  Jew,  whom  he  would 
hang,  that  is  called  "the  man  whom  the  king  delighteth 
to  honor."  Instead  of  leaving  the  palace  with  an  order 
to  hang  Mordecai,  Haman  leaves  with  the  king's  horse, 
and  royal  apparel,  which  he  is  to  present  to  Mordecai, 
whom  he  caused: — 

"to  ride  through  the  street  of  the  city,  and  proclaimed  be- 
fore him,  Thus  shall  it  be  done  unto  the  man  whom  the 
king  delighteth  to  honor."    Esther  6:11. 

What  a  situation! 

"Haman  hasted  to  his  house,  mourning  and  having  his  head 
covered.  And  Haman  recounted  unto  Zeresh  his  wife  and 
all  his  friends  everything  that  had  befallen  him."  Esther 
6:12-13. 

He  did  not  In  his  mind  connect  Esther  In  any  way 
with  the  extraordinary  favor  shown  to  Mordecai  nor 
was  she  connected  with  it,  except  as  the  person  through 
whom  had  come  Mordecai's  warning  of  the  treachery 
of  Bigthan  and  Teresh,  2:21-23,  which  the  king  had 


V 


170  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

evidently  forgotten,  until  he  heard  the  account  of  it 
read  to  him.  Here  ends  another  act  in  the  dramatic 
story. 

Haman  went,  still  self-important,  and  apparently  in 
favor  with  the  king  and  queen,  to  Esther's  banquet. 
The  feelings  of  Haman,  as  Esther  reveals  her  race  in 
asking  for  the  life  of  her  people,  are  to  be  imagined. 
jThe  condition  of  Haman's  mind  at  all  stages  of  the  story 
lis,  through  the  skill  of  the  narrator,  made  quite  as  im- 
[portant  as  the  external  incidents,  in  fact,  without  in- 
\tending  a  pun,  we  may  say  that  the  whole  story  of  Ha- 
man is  an  example  of  the  principle  of  dramatic  suspense. 
Leading  up  to  it  by  the  use  of  the  words  "adversary 
and  enemy,"  and  calling  forth  from  the  king  the  ques- 
tions "Who  is  he,  and  where  is  he,  that  durst  presume 
in  his  heart  to  do  so?"  Esther  reaches  the  ^ramatic 
climax,  doubtless  pointing  with  her  finger  as  she  did 
so,  by  uttering  the  words  "This  wicked  Haman!" 
The  scene  calls  to  mind  that  in  which  Nathan,  having 
wrung  from  David,  by  his  story  of  the  poor  man's 
lamb,    the   words: — 

"As  Jehovah  liveth,  the  man  that  hath  done  this  is  worthy 
to  die."    II  Samuel  12:5. 

suddenly  declares: — 

"Thou  art  the  man!"  • 

With  marvelous  skill,  the  story-teller  now  introduces 
a  situation  which  gives  the  king  a  peculiarly  personal 
reason  for  punishing  Haman: — 

"And  the  king  arose  in  his  wrath  from  the  banquet  of 
wine  and  went  into  the  palace  garden."    Esther  7:7. 


BIBLICAL   STORIES  I7I 

When  he  returned,  he  found  Haman,  who  had  sim- 
ply been  begging  for  his  life: — 

"...  fallen  upon  the  couch  whereon  Esther  was.  Then 
said  the  king,  Will  he  even  force  the  queen  before  me  in 
the  house.?  As  the  word  went  out  of  the  king's  mouth, 
they  covered  Haman's  face.  Then  said  Harbonah,  one  of 
the  chamberlains  that  were  before  the  king,  Behold  also, 
the  gallows  fifty  cubits  high,  which  Haman  hath  made  for 
Mordecai,  who  spake  good  for  the  king,  standeth  in  the  house 
of  Haman.  And  the  king  said.  Hang  him  thereon.  So  they 
hanged  Haman  on  the  gallows  that  he  had  prepared  for 
Mordecai."    Esther  7:8-10. 

The  rescue  of  the  Jews  from  slaughter  had  not  been 
accomplished  By  the  death  of  Haman,  for  the  decree, 
which  even  the  king  himself  could  not  revoke,  must 
yet  be  carried  out.  The  house  of  Haman  had  been 
given  to  Esther.  She  had  told  the  king  what  Mordecai 
was  to  her,  and  to  Mordecai  the  king  had  given  the 
ring  of  Haman.  A  second  time  does  Esther  appeal  for 
the  lives  of  her  people,  and  a  second  time  the  king  holds 
out  to  her  his  golden  scepter,  in  token  of  approval. 
He  cannot  reverse  the  decree,  but  he  can  issue  another. 
This  he  does  and  sends  it  forth: — 

"by  posts  on  horseback,  riding  on  swift  steeds  that  were 
used  in  the  king's  service,  bred  of  the  stud :  wherein  the  king 
granted  the  Jews  that  were  in  every  city  to  gather  themselves 
together,  and  to  stand  for  their  life,  to  destroy,  to  slay,  and 
to  cause  to  perish,  all  the  power  of  the  people  and  province 
that  would  assault  them,  their  little  ones  and  women,  and 
to  take  the  spoil  of  them  for  a  prey."    Esther  8:10-11. 

This  decree,  and  that  issued  against  the  Jews,  both 
authorized  a  war  of  extermination,  women  and  children 


172  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

being  included  in  the  slaughter.  Ahasuerus  could  not 
prevent  the  attack,  but  he  could  authorize  the  defense 
against  it.  How  well  the  Jews  in  Persia  carried  out  the 
suggestion  of  the  king  is  related  in  the  ninth  chapter 
which  records  the  slaughter,  not  of  the  Jews,  as  Haman 
had  planned,  but  of  the  Persians  who  opposed  the 
Jews,  including  five  hundred  "in  Shushan  the 
palace."  Mordecai  was  so  powerful  that  satraps  and 
governors  helped  the  Jews.  The  king  asked  Estlier 
what  further  petition  she  had,  and  her  request  that 
the  ten  sons  of  Haman  be  hanged  upon  the  gallows 
was  granted.  As  Joseph  became  chief  in  Pharaoh's 
household,  so  "  Mordecai  the  Jew  was  next  unto  king 
Ahasuerus." 

The  development  of  the  story  in  a  logical  order  with 
plot  and  counterplot,  numerous  dramatic  situations, 
each  preparing  the  way  for  the  next,  and  with  the  prin- 
ciple of  suspense  observed  up  to  the  point  at  which 
Esther  tells  the  king  that  Mordecai  is  her  kinsman — all 
these  things  display  wonderful  literary  and  gjtji^^g 
power.  Usually  race  and  religion  are  closely  associated 
nnhe  Bible,  as  in  Ruth.  In  Esther,  however,  the 
feeling  of  race  is  strongly  brought  out,  but  no  word 
said  of  religion  cither  of  the  Persians,  or  of  the  Jews. 
As  in  the  case  of  Ruth,  so  in  Esther,  we  have  the  inter- 
marrying of  the  Jews  with  another  people,  and  no  word 
of  disapproval  of  the  practice.* 

Jonah 

A  third  story  of  the  Old  Testament  is  Jonah,  which 
tells  of  the  sending  of  Jonah,  the  son  of  Amittai  to 
Nineveh  "to  cry  against  it"  because  of  its  wickedness. 
Like  the  stories  about  Elijah  and  Elisha  in  the  histori- 

*  See  above,  p.  158. 


BIBLICAL   STORIES  I73 

cal  books,  Jonah  is  a  story  about  a  prophet  rather  than 
the  book  of  a  prophet. 

The  book  begins,  as  do  other  prophets,  with  the  state- 
ment "the  word  of  the  Lord  came,"  but  this  is  the  only 
instance  in  which  a  prophet  of  Jehovah  was  commis- 
sioned to  go  to  a  Gentile  city  to  preach;  although  there 
are  instances  in  which  a  prophet  of  Jehovah  was  con- 
sulted by  a  foreigner,  as  was  Elisha  by  Naaman,  II 
Kings,  ch.  5.  Jonah  is  mentioned  in  only  one  other  place 
in  the  Old  Testament.    The  passage  is: — 

"He  [Jeroboam]  restored  the  border  of  Israel  from  the 
entrance  of  Hamath  unto  the  sea  of  Arabah,  according  to  the 
word  of  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel,  which  he  spake  by  his 
servant  Jonah  the  son  of  Amittai,  the  prophet,  who  was  of 
Gath-hepher."    II  Kings  14:25. 

In  the  New  Testament,  he  is  mentioned  in  words 
of  warning  addressed  by  Jesus  to  the  Scribes  and  Phari- 
sees : — 

"For  even  as  Jonah  became  a  sign  unto  the  Ninevites,  so 
shall  also  the  Son  of  man  be  to  this  generation."    Luke  1 1 :30. 

"An  evil  and  adulterous  generation  seeketh  after  a  sign; 
and  there  shall  no  sign  be  given  to  it  but  the  sign  of  Jonah 
the  prophet:  for  as  Jonah  was  three  days  and  three  nights 
in  the  belly  of  the  whale;  so  shall  the  Son  of  man  be  three 
days  and  three  nights  in  the  heart  of  the  earth."  Matthew 
12:39-40. 

These  references  to  Jonah  indicate,  when  taken  to- 
gether, that  the  book  of  Jonah  was  not  regarded  as  a 
mere  parable,  just  as  the  mention  of  Job  by  Ezekiel, 
14:14,20,  and  by  James,  5:11,  indicates  that  he  was 
regarded  as  a  real  person,  and  not  simply  as  the  in- 


174  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

vention  of  a  story-teller's  or  poet's  mind.  Jonah  the 
prophet  is  referred  to  also  in  Tobit  14:4. 

The  book  is  the  story  of  a  man  who  set  up  his  will 
against  what  he  knew  to  be  the  will  of  God.  He  tried 
to  evade  his  duty  by  taking  a  ship  for  Tarshish  (Spain) 
when  bidden  by  Jehovah  to  go,  in  the  other  direction, 
to  Nineveh.  His  conscience  troubled  him  and  he  knew 
that  the  storm  which  arose  and  endangered  the  ship 
was  on  his  account.  In  spite  of  their  own  peril  and 
Jonah's  request  that  they  cast  him  into  the  sea,  and 
thus  remove  the  cause  of  the  storm,  the  mariners,  hea- 
then though  they  were,  exerted  themselves  to  the  ut- 
most to  save  the  life  of  Jonah,  as  well  as  their  own. 
Finding  their  efforts  of  no  avail  they  pray  to  Jehovah, 
Jonah's  God,  not  theirs,  to  lay  not  upon  them  inno- 
cent blood,  and  they  cast  Jonah  into  the  sea.  We  then 
see  the  ship  on  a  calm  water,  and  these  mariners  now 
offering  a  sacrifice  to  Jehovah  and  making  vows  for 
their  deliverance.  From  the  belly  of  the  great  fish 
that  had  swallowed  him,  Jonah,  repentant,  prays 
for  forgiveness,  and  he  too  promises  sacrifice  and 
vows.     2:9. 

A  second  time  comes  the  word  of  the  Lord  to  Jonah- 
"Arise  go  unto  Nineveh"  and  preach.  He  goes,  and 
as  he  preaches,  the  people  of  Nineveh  believe  God  and 
repent.  God  accepts  their  repentance,  and  because  of  it 
"repented  of  the  evil  which  he  said  he  would  do  unto 
them;  and  he  did  it  not."  3:10. 

The  third  and  last  part  of  the  story  deals  with  the  re- 
lation of  the  will  of  Jonah  to  the  will  of  Jehovah,  and 
shows  how  tender  and  merciful  Jehovah  is  to  his  rebel- 
lious children,  as  compared  with  Jonah.  Man  is  nar- 
row and  vindictive,  but  God's  mercy  is  all-embracing. 
Jonah  is  angry  because  God  had  forgiven  the  Ninevites, 


BIBLICAL   STORIES  I75 

instead  of  destroying  them,  but  Jehovah  had  a  rebuke 
for  Jonah,  who  seemed  unable  to  grasp  the  idea  that 
the  people  of  Nineveh,  even  though  they  were  not  Jews 
were  the  objects  of  the  loving  care  and  tender  mercy 
of  Jehovah. 

The  sailors  were  heathen,  and  the  Ninevites  were 
heathen.  They  worshipped  other  gods  than  Jehovah. 
Jonah  had  announced  to  the  sailors: — 

**I  am  a  Hebrew;  and  I  fear  Jehovah,  the  God  of  heaven, 
who  hath  made  the  sea  and  the  dry  land."    Jonah  1 19. 

The  heathen  sailors  worship  Jehovah  when  the  storm 
ceases,  and  the  heathen  Ninevites  turn  from  their  evil 
way  and  repent,  but  Jonah,  who  would  have  viewed 
with  pleasure  the  destruction  of  Nineveh  and  its 
inhabitants,  including  innocent  children,  "that  can- 
not discern  between  their  right  hand  and  their  left 
hand"  is  angry  and  wants  to  die,  because  the  gourd  had 
withered,  and  in  consequence  he  had  no  shelter  from  the 
sun  and  wind: — 

"Thou  hast  had  regard  for  the  gourd,  for  which  thou  hast 
not  labored,  neither  madest  it  grow;  .  .  .  and  should  not  I 
have  regard  for  Nineveh,  that  great  city,  wherein  are  more 
than  six  score  thousand  persons  that  cannot  discern  between 
their  right  hand  and  their  left  hand;  and  also  much  cattle?" 
Jonah  4:10,  II. 

Jehovah's  merciful  lovingkindness  is  shown  in  the 
pictures  here  given  of  heathen,  who,  when  they  hear 
of  him  "turn  from  their  evil  way"  and  reverently 
worship.  The  Gentiles  too  came  within  the  provisions 
of  Jehovah's  love. 


176  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Tohit 

In  the  Apocrypha  is  Tobit,  a  story  of  family  life, 
with  its  varying  incidents,  including  a  quarrel  between 
Tobit  and  his  wife.  A  second  family  story,  that  of 
Sarah,  a  relative  of  Tobit,  is  introduced.  She  has  been 
accused  by  her  maids  of  having  strangled  her  seven  hus- 
bands, each  of  whom  had  in  reality  been  slain  by  an 
evil  spirit,  Asmodseus.  Both  Tobit,  who  had  become 
blind,  and  Sarah  pray  for  death.  It  is  Jehovah's  plan 
that  the  two  families  should  be  united  by  the  marriage  of 
Sarah  and  Tobias,  the  son  of  Tobit.  Tobias  is  sent  on  a 
journey  to  Media  to  collect  a  debt,  and  his  guide  is  the 
angel  Raphael,  who  appears  as  Azarias.  The  speech  of 
fatherly  advice  of  Tobit,  ch.  4,  is  a  specimen  of  wisdom 
literature.  We  are  made  to  see  the  young  Tobias  and 
his  guide  Azarias  as  they  set  out  on  their  journey: — 

"And  they  both  went  forth  to  depart,  and  the  young  man's 
dog  with  them.  But  Anna  his  mother  wept,  and  said  to  Tobit, 
Why  hast  thou  sent  away  our  child  ?  is  he  not  the  staff  of  our 
hand,  in  going  in  and  out  before  us.?  Be  not  greedy  to  add 
money  to  money:  but  let  it  be  as  refuse  in  respect  of  our 
child."    Tobit  5:16-18. 

On  their  return  journey  also,  we  are  told,  "and  the  dog 
went  after  them."  The  dog  is  not  otherwise  mentioned. 
When  Tobias  bathes  in  the  river  a  fish  leaps  out  at 
him,  which  the  angel  guide  tells  him  to  hold  and  cut 
open.  With  the  heart,  liver  and  gall  of  the  fish,  burned 
so  as  to  make  a  smoke,  Tobias  was  able,  as  he  had  been 
told  by  the  angel,  to  drive  away  the  evil  spirit  Asmo- 
dseus,  who  would  have  slain  him,  as  he  had  slain  the 
seven  husbands  of  Sarah.  Azarias,  the  angel,  went 
with  a  servant  and  collected  the  debt  for  which  Tobias 


BIBLICAL   STORIES  I77 

had  been  sent,  while  the  latter  was  spending  the 
fourteen  days  of  the  wedding  feast  with  his  wife  and  her 
parents. 

When  they  returned  to  Nineveh,  the  home  of  Tobit, 
Tobias,  by  direction  of  the  angel,  anoints  his  father's 
eyes,  with  the  gall  of  the  fish,  and  the  film  which  had 
blinded  him  falls  away,  and  his  sight  is  restored.  Not 
until  this  reunion  of  the  family,  and  the  restoration  of 
Tobit's  sight,  is  the  identity  of  Azarias  revealed.  He  is 
"Raphael,  one  of  the  seven  holy  angels,"  12:15.  Tobit 
closes  with  a  thanksgiving  to  God,  spoken  by  Raphael 
to  Tobit  and  Tobias,  a  prayer  of  rejoicing  of  Tobit, 
a  farewell  of  Tobit  to  his  son  and  the  six  sons  of  his 
son,  predicting  the  destruction  of  Nineveh  as  foretold 
by  "Jonah  the  prophet,"  14:4,  and  the  restoration  of 
Jerusalem  in  glory. 

Judith 

The  story  of  Judith,  found,  like  Tobit,  in  the  Apocry- 
pha, is  one  of  heroic  adventure  on  the  part  of  a  devout 
Jewess  of  great  beauty,  who,  risking  her  own  life  on  be- 
half of  her  people,  goes  with  her  maid  to  the  camp  of 
the  Assyrians,  representing  herself  as  willing  to  re- 
veal to  them  a  way  by  which  they  may  obtain 
possession  of  the  land  without  loss  of  men.  Her  beauty, 
and  her  proposal  to  betray  her  countrymen,  gain  for 
her  immediate  access  to  the  tent  of  Holofernes,  the 
commander  of  the  enemy.  He  is  captivated  by  her  and 
promises  that  no  harm  shall  come  to  her.  She  tells 
him  that  her  race : — 

"shall  not  be  punished,  neither  shall  the  sword  prevail 
against  them,  except  they  sin  against  their  God."  Judith 
11:10. 


178  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

She  tells  him  further,  that  owing  to  the  failure  of  their 
victuals  and  water,  in  consequence  of  the  siege,  the 
Israelites  would  soon  commit  sin  by  eating: — 

"things,  which  God  charged  them  by  his  laws  that  they 
should  not  eat."    Judith  11:12. 

As  it  would  be  fatal  to  the  Assyrians  to  attack  the 
Israelites  before  they  had  committed  this  sin,  Judith 
declares  that  she  must  have  her  own  special  food,  and 
that  she  must  go  forth  at  night  for  prayer  to  Jehovah, 
who  will  tell  her  "when  they  have  committed  their 
sins. "  For  three  nights  she  went  forth  into  the  valley 
of  Bethulia  to  pray,  orders  having  been  given  not  to 
stop  her.  The  guards,  who  became  accustomed  to  see- 
ing her  go  in  and  out  of  the  camp  at  night,  suspected 
nothing.  On  the  fourth  night,  when  Holofernes  was 
pleased  more  than  ever  with  the  beauty  of  Judith,  and, 
at  a  feast: — 

"drank  exceeding  much  wine,  more  than  he  had  drunk  at 
any  time  in  one  day  since  he  was  bom.**    Judith  12:20. 

her  opportunity  came.  She  arranged  to  go  forth  to 
prayer  at  night  as  she  had  done  before.  Holofernes  lay 
overpowered  with  wine.  She  took  his  scimitar,  and,  with 
a  prayer  to  God  for  strength,  cut  off  his  head,  which  she 
gave  to  her  maid,  who  put  it  into  the  bag  in  which 
they  were  accustomed  to  carry  their  special  victuals. 
Through  the  camp  they  went,  and  back  to  the  gate  of 
Bethulia  with  the  head  of  Israel's  foe.  The  Israelites 
saw  in  Judith  the  instrument  of  God.  The  Assyrians 
fled  in  terror  and  dismay.  The  story  ends  with  the 
thanksgiving  poem  of  Judith,  which  recalls  the  song  of 
Deborah,  and  the  story  of  Jael  and  Sisera. 


BIBLICAL    STORIES  I79 

As  in  Esther,  the  author  had  a  difficult  plot  to  handle. 
How  was  the  beautiful  Judith  to  save  herself,  to  slay 
Holofernes,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  preserve  freedom 
of  movement  through  the  camp  for  herself  and  her 
maid,  and  thus  access  to  her  own  people  of  Bethulia? 
It  looked  impossible  to  do  all  these  things,  and  yet  they 
were  accomplished  with  perfect  ease  by  her  courage  and 
her  woman's  wit. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  PSALMS 

The  Book  of  Psalms  is  a  collection  of  ancient  reli- 
gious poetry  of  various  kinds,  and  by  various  authors, 
which  was  made  by  the  selection,  or  the  survival,  of 
poems  from  a  number  of  still  earlier  collections.  It 
seems  altogether  probable,  from  the  information  about 
the  music  given  in  the  prefatory  inscriptions  to  many 
of  the  Psalms,  that  the  book  as  we  have  it  was  used  in 
connection  with  the  services  of  the  second  Temple.^ 
Apart,  however,  from  any  liturgical  use,  the  hymns 
were  undoubtedly  popular  among  the  people  and  sung 
by  them.  The  Songs  of  Ascents,  or  Degrees,  Psalms 
120-134,  may  be  pilgrim  psalms  that  came  into  exist- 
ence in  connection  with  the  annual  journeys  to 
Jerusalem. 

No  poetry  ever  written  has  been  read,  and  studied,  and 
sung  by  more  people  than  the  Hebrew  Psalms,  and  this 
is  true,  because  they  express,  better  than  any  other 
poetry,  the  feeling  of  the  devout  soul  towards  God. 
Art  and  literature  the  Greeks  produced  of  superlative 
excellence,  but  not  religion.  Attention  has  often  been 
called  to  the  fact  that  when  the  Jews  as  a  people  were 
monotheists  and  profoundly  spiritual,  the  Greeks  were 
polytheists.  See  Acts  17:22-34.  Nowhere,  except  per- 
haps in  a  few  of  the  utterances  of  the  philosophers, 

^  The  Temple  of  Solomon  was  destroyed  by  Nebuchadnezzar,  IT  Kings 
25:9,  II  Chronicles  36:19.  A  second  Temple  was  built  after  the  captivity, 
Ezra  6:15.  It  was  rebuilt  by  Herod  the  Great  about  20  b.  c.  The  Temple 
of  Herod  was  destroyed  by  the  Romans  in  70  a.  d. 

x8o 


THE    PSALMS  l8l 

especially  of  Socrates,  does  the  ancient  Greek  approach 
the  dignity  and  grandeur  of  the  Hebrew's  conception 
of  God.  Much  we  owe  to  the  Greeks,  but  not  our  con- 
ception of  God.  It  is  the  spirituality  of  the  Psalms 
that  is  their  most  notable  characteristic.  The  Jew  saw 
clearly  that  happiness  had  a  spiritual  and  not  a  ma- 
terial source,  and  that  the  eternal  good  is  spiritual. 

Here  are  expressions  concerning  the  Psalms  from  two 
different  types  of  men,  each  of  whom  finds  the  secret 
of  their  power  in  their  deep  sincerity,  and  in  their  per- 
fect expression  of  the  religious  emotions  common  to 
humanity.     Dean  Milman  wrote:— 

They  have  embodied  so  exquisitely  the  universal  language 
of  religious  emotion,  that  (a  few  fierce  and  vindictive  passages 
excepted,  natural  in  the  warrior  poet  of  a  sterner  age)  they 
have  entered,  with  unquestioned  propriety,  into  the  ritual 
of  the  holier  and  more  perfect  religion  of  Christ.  The  Songs 
which  cheered  the  solitude  of  the  desert  caves  of  Engedi,  or 
resounded  from  the  voice  of  the  Hebrew  people,  as  they 
wound  along  the  glens  or  the  hill-sides  of  Judea,  have  been 
repeated  for  ages  in  almost  every  part  of  the  habitable  world, 
in  the  remotest  islands  of  the  ocean,  among  the  forests  of 
America,  or  the  sands  of  Africa.  How  many  human  hearts 
have  they  softened,  purified,  exalted !  Of  how  many  wretched 
beings  have  they  been  the  secret  consolation!"  ^ 

Carlyle  said  of  the  Psalms  of  David  :^ 

"On  the  whole,  we  make  too  much  of  faults.  Faults? 
The  greatest  of  faults,  I  should  say,  is  to  be  conscious  of  none. 
Readers  of  the  Bible,  above  all,  one  would  think,  might 
know  better.  Who  is  called  there  *the  man  according  to 
God*s  own  heart'?  David,  the  Hebrew  King,  had  fallen 
into  sins  enough;  blackest  crimes,  there  was  no  want  of  sins. 

1 H.  H.  Milman,  The  History  of  the  Jews,  New  York,  1871,  vol.  i,  p.  353. 


l82  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

And  therefore  the  unbelievers  sneer  and  ask,  *Is  this  your 
man  according  to  God's  own  heart?'  The  sneer,  I  must 
say,  seems  to  me  but  a  shallow  one." 

"David's  life  and  history,  as  written  for  us  in  those  Psalms 
of  his,  I  consider  to  be  the  truest  emblem  ever  given  of  a 
man's  moral  progress  and  warfare  here  below.  All  earnest 
men  will  ever  discern  in  it  the  faithful  struggle  of  an, earnest 
human  soul  toward  what  is  good  and  best.  Struggle  often 
baffled,  sore  baffled,  down  as  into  entire  wreck;  yet  a  struggle 
never  ended;  ever,  with  tears,  repentance,  true  unconquer- 
able purpose,  begun  anew.  Poor  human  nature!  Is  not  a 
man's  walking,  in  truth,  always  that:  *a  succession  of  falls'.^ 
Man  can  do  no  other.  In  this  wild  element  of  Life,  he  has 
to  struggle  onward;  now  fallen,  deep  abased;  and  ever  with 
tears,  repentance,  with  bleeding  heart,  he  has  to  rise  again, 
struggle  again  still  onward.  That  his  struggle  be  a  faithful, 
unconquerable  one:  that  is  the  question  of  questions.  We 
will  put  up  with  many  sad  details,  if  the  soul  of  it  were 
true.     Details  by   themselves   will    never  teach    us    what 


The  Book  of  Psalms  in  Hebrew  is  In  five  parts. ^  This 
fact  was  usually  ignored  in  the  printing  of  English  Ver- 
sions until  the  Revision  of  1 88 1-5,  when  the  divisions 
were  marked.^  An  examination  of  the  contents  shows 
that  each  division  ends  with  a  doxology,  but  that  the 
doxologies  at  the  close  of  Psalms  72  and  106  are  appro- 
priate parts  of  these  poems,  while  the  doxologies  at  the 
close  of  Psalms  41  and  89  are  not,  hence  it  has  been 
concluded  by  many  scholars  that  the  fivefold  division 
was  made  in  imitation  of  the  Pentateuch,  as  rabbinical 

*  Heroes  and  Hero  Worshipy  "The  Hero  as  Prophet." 
'  I  1-41,  II  42-72,  III  73-89,  IV  90-106,  V  107-1^0. 

•  The  divisions  of  the  books  of  Psalms  and  the  differences  between  poetry 
and  prose,  as  to  form,  were  indicated  in  some  special  editions  of  the  Bible, 
and  m  various  translations  by  individual  scholars,  but  not  in  the  editions 
that  were  in  general  use. 


THE    PSALMS  1 83 

tradition  asserts,  and  that  the  natural  division  is  into 
three  parts,  1-41,  42-89,  90-150. 

The  first  oi  the  three  divisions  consists  of  poems  attrib- 
uted to  David.  A  further  examination  of  the  collec- 
tion will  show  that  Psalms  51-72,  a  group  attributed 
almost  entirely  to  David  appears  to  have  been  inserted 
between  two  parts  of  a  collection  by  Asaph,  Psalms 
50-73-83,  which  follows  immediately  the  collection  of 
Korahite,  Psalms  42-49.  If  Psalms  51-72  are  placed 
before  Psalm  42,  we  have  the  second  collection  of  the 
Psalms,  consisting  of  I  David,  II  Korahite,  III  Asaph, 
plus  a  miscellaneous  supplementary  collection,  84-89; 
comprising  poems  of  the  Sons  of  Korah,  David,  He- 
man  and  Ethan,  and  the  note,  72:20,  "The  prayers  of 
David  the  son  of  Jesse  are  ended,"  appears  appro- 
priately at  the  end  of  the  group  bearing  his  name.  It 
has  no  meaning  where  it  now  occurs.^ 

The  third  collection  contains  the  chorals  or  liturgi- 
cal hymns;  the  Egyptian  Hallel,  11 3-1 18;  the  Songs  of 
Ascents,  120-134;  ^  poem,  the  greatness  of  Jehovah  and 
the  impotence  of  idols,  135;  the  Great  Hallel,  136;  ^  a 
poem  of  the  exiles  in  Babylon,  137;  two  small  groups 
attributed  to  David,  108-110  and  138-145,  of  which  108 
is  made  up  of  57:7-11  and  60:5-12,  combined,  perhaps 
for  some  liturgical  purpose.  There  are  no  musical  di- 
rections prefixed  to  any  of  the  Psalms  in  the  third  col- 
lection (books  IV  and  V)  although  three,  109,  139,  140, 
ascribed  to  David,  are  "  For  the  chief  musician. "  There 
are  a  number  of  musical  directions  found  in  the  first 
two  collections,  1-89. 

That  the  Psalms  have  been  edited  and  do  not  always 

*  For  a  discussion  of  this  see  S.  R.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of 
the  Old  Testament,  pp.  372-373. 

2  Jewish  authorities  do  not  agree  as  to  the  Great  Hallel.  Some  say  it  is 
Psaim  136;  some,  Psalms  120-136;  some,  Psalms  135:4-136. 


184  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

appear  in  our  collection  in  their  original  form  is  shown 
by  the  appearance  of  different  versions  of  the  same 
Psalm,  in  which,  owing  probably  to  the  custom  of  a 
later  time,  the  name  Jehovah  has  been  changed,  in 
the  Hebrew,  by  the  compiler,  to  Elohim.  This  will 
explain  to  the  reader  of  the  English  translations,  the 
differences  between  the  two  versions  of  the  same  Psalm 
that  appear  as  14  and  53.  In  the  Revised  Version  we 
read : — 

"The  Lord  looked  down  from  heaven."    Psalm  14:2. 
"God  looked  down  from  heaven."    Psalm  53 :2. 

In  the  American  Revised  Version  we  read : — 

"Jehovah  looked  down  from  heaven."    Psalm  14:2. 
"God  looked  down  from  heaven."    Psalm  53:2. 

This  and  other  differences  between  the  two  versions  of 
the  Psalms  as  shown  in  the  translation  are  due  to  differ- 
ences in  the  Hebrew  versions.  This  is  true  also  of 
Psalm  70  which  is  simply  verses  13-17  of  Psalm  40, 
the  differences  appearing  in  the  English  translation. 

That  choral  singing  was  a  part  of  Hebrew  worship, 
even  before  the  formal  services  of  the  Tabernacle  had 
been  arranged,  we  know  from  the  account.  Exodus, 
ch.  1 5,  of  the  Song  of  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel,  in 
thanksgiving  for  the  overthrow  of  Pharaoh's  hosts.  In 
Judges,  ch.  5,  we  have  the  Song  of  Deborah  and  Barak, 
praising  Jehovah  for  the  victory  over  the  Canaanites. 
These  songs  are  both  of  them  described  as  antiphonal, 
one  singer  or  group  of  singers  answering  another.  There 
was  evidently  much  singing  not  connected  with  wor- 
ship.   We  read: — 


THE    PSALMS  I85 

"And  it  came  to  pass  as  they  came,  when  David  returned 
from  the  slaughter  of  the  PhiHstine,  that  the  women  came 
out  of  all  the  cities  of  Israel,  singing  and  dancing  to  meet 
king  Saul,  with  timbrels,  with  joy,  and  with  instruments  of 
music.  And  the  women  sang  one  to  another  as  they  played 
and  said, 

"*Saul  hath  slain  his  thousands, 

And  David  his  ten  thousands.'"    I  Samuel  18:6-7. 

In  Deuteromomy,  ch.  32,  we  have  a  song  taught  to  Is- 
rael by  Moses  and  Hoshea,  evidently  antiphonally.  In 
Genesis  4:23-24,  we  have  Lamech's  Song  of  the  Sword, 
and  in  Numbers  21:17-18,  the  Song  of  the  Well,  sung 
by  Israel.  Other  examples  of  songs  are  Luke  1:46-55, 
the  Magnificat;  Luke  1:68-80,  the  Song  of  Zacharias; 
Luke  2:13,  the  Song  of  the  Angels;  Luke  2:29,  the  Song 
of  Simeon;  and  the  songs  in  Revelation  5:9,  12,  13; 
15:3;  19:1-8.  That  the  sacred  songs  of  Israel  were 
known  throughout  the  surrounding  peoples  is  a  reason- 
able inference  from  Psalm  137:3,  where  the  Babylonian 
captors  ask  the  Jews  to  sing  "one  of  the  songs  of 
Zion." 

Public  ceremonial  in  the  form  of  an  antiphonal 
ritual  appears  early  in  the  history  of  Israel,  and  in 
Deuteronomy  27:15-26  are  found  the  words  of  such  a 
ritual.  The  Levites,  appointed,  in  Numbers  i  :50,  gen- 
eral custodians  of  the  Tabernacle  and  all  its  furniture, 
are,  in  I  Chronicles  23 :30,  spoken  of  as  having  among 
their  duties  that  of  offering  praise  and  thanksgiving  to 
Jehovah  every  morning  and  evening.  We  are  told 
that:— 

"He  [David]  appointed  certain  of  the  Levites  to  minister 
before  the  ark  of  Jehovah,  and  to  celebrate  and  to  thank 
and  praise  Jehovah,  the  God  of  Israel."    I  Chronicles  16:4. 


l86  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

We  are  told  also,  I  Chronicles  16:41,  42,  that  Heman, 
Jeduthan  and  others  were  chosen  to  give  thanks  to 
Jehovah  with  "instruments  for  the  songs  of  God," 
"because  his  lovingkindness  endureth  forever,"  a 
formula  which  occurs  in  Psalms  107,  118,  136  and  in 
II  Chronicles  20:21.  There  are  many  other  references 
to  singing,  both  as  a  part  of  formal  worship,  and  as  a 
custom  of  the  people. 

David  appointed  certain  of  the  sons  of  Asaph,  of 
Heman,  and  of  Jeduthan  "to  prophesy  with  harps, 
with  psalteries,  and  with  cymbals,"  and  twenty-four 
groups  of  singers  to  perform  the  musical  part  of  the 
service  of  the  Temple  for  which  he  had  made  the  prep- 
arations,  but  which   Solomon   his   son  was   to  build. 

I  Chronicles,  ch.  25.  At  the  dedication  of  the  Temple 
the  Levites,  "with  instruments  of  music  of  Jehovah, 
which  David  the  king  had  made  to  give  thanks  unto 
Jehovah  .  .  .  when  David  praised  by  their  ministry," 

II  Chronicles  y:6,  performed  as  David  had  arranged. 
Much  later,  in  the  reign  of  Hezekiah,  we  read  of  the 
Levites  as  singing  praises  to  Jehovah  "with  the  words 
of  David  and  of  Asaph  the  seer,"  II  Chronicles  29:30, 
and  later  still,  in  the  time  of  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  Ezra 
3:10,  Nehemiah  12:36-46,  David  and  Asaph  are  men- 
tioned as  having  established  the  musical  services.^ 

That  David  was  a  famous  musician  we  are  told  in 
I  Samuel  16:18,  where  he  is  spoken  of  as  a  skilful  player 
on  the  harp,  and  in  Amos  6:5,  where  he  is  said  to 
have  invented  "instruments  of  music."     In  the  "last 

*  "IftheTemplepsalmody  was  organized  in  the  age  of  David  and  Solomon 
as  the  Chronicler  represents,  the  absence  of  all  allusion  to  it  in  the  descrip- 
tions of  sacred  ceremonies  in  Samuel-Kings  is  very  singular.  II  Samuel 
6:^,  I  Kings  1:40  speak  of  the  people  singing,  but  not  of  the  authorized 
'singers'  so  frequently  mentioned  in  Ezra-Nehemiah-Chronicles."  Intro- 
duction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  S.  R.  Driver,  p.  379. 


THE    PSALMS  1 8/ 

words  of  David,"  II  Samuel,  ch.  23,  he  is  called  "the 
sweet  psalmist  of  Israel,''  and  the  same  book  records 
three  other  poems  of  David,  two  of  them  secular,  one  the 
beautiful  Song  of  the  Bow,  1 119-27,  a  lament  for  Saul 
and  Jonathan;  another  a  lament  for  Abner,  3:33-34; 
and  the  third,  ch.  22,  a  song  of  rejoicing  which  appears, 
Psalm  18,  in  a  different  version.  A  poem  composed 
of  parts  of  three  other  Psalms  now  in  the  Book  of  Psalms 
105:1-15,  96:1-13,  106:1,  47,  48,  is  given  in  I  Chronicles 
16:7-36,  as  the  words  in  which  David  *^by  the  hand  of 
Asaph  and  his  brethren"  gave  thanks  to  Jehovah. 

The  position  of  Da^d  as  a  poet,  in  the  minds  of  the 
people,  is  clearly  indicated  by  these  references  in  the 
historical  books.  We  are  told  of  Solomon  that  he  wrote 
a  thousand  and  five  songs,  I  Kings  4:32,  and  we  can 
readily  believe  of  David  that  he  too  may  have  written 
much  poetry  that  has  not  been  preserved,  and  also  that 
poems  have  been  attributed  to  him  in  later  times,  of 
which  he  was  not  the  author.  What  seems  certain  is 
that  a  collection  of  poems,  bearing  the  name  of 
David,  once  existed,  and  that  in  it  were  preserved 
the  Psalms  attributed  to  him,  if  not  by  him,  in  the 
book  of  Psalms.  There  seem  to  have  been  also  col- 
lections bearing  other  names,  or  titles,  such  as  the 
"Songs  of  Asaph"  and  the  "Songs  of  the  Sons  of 
Korah,"  who,  like  Asaph,  were  specially  appointed  by 
David  to  service  in  the  Temple,  I  Chronicles  26:1. 
There  may  have  been  collections  of  poems  by  various 
authors  among  which  were  preserved  the  writings  of 
Ethan,  Psalm  89,  and  writings  attributed  to  Moses, 
other  than  those  in  the  Pentateuch,  such  as  Psalm  90. 
Two  books,  evidently  collections,  are  mentioned,  the 
Book  of  Jashar,  as  the  source  of  Joshua's  command  to 
the  sun  and  moon,  Joshua  10:12,  13,  and  David's  Song 


l88  A   BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  the  Bow,  II  Samuel  1:17-27,  and  the  Book  of  the 
Wars  of  Jehovah,  as  containing  the  lines  about  the 
Arnon,  Numbers  21:14.^ 

The  Book  of  Psalms,  as  usually  divided,  contains  one 
hundred  and  fifty  poems.  A  comparison  of  the  King 
James  or  the  Revised  Versions  with  the  Rheims-Douay 
Version  will  show  that,  while  each  contains  one  hundred 
and  fifty  poems,  they  do  not  divide  them  in  the  same 
way.  This,  like  other  differences  between  these  Versions, 
is  due  to  their  being  translations  of  different  texts. 
Psalms  9  and  10,  an  imperfect  acrostic,  are  united  in  the 
Vulgate,  and,  of  course,  in  the  Rheims-Douay  version, 
which  follows  it.  The  Septuagint  also  unites  them,  but 
the  Hebrew  does  not.  Psalm  116  is,  in  the  vulgate  and 
Septuagint,  divided  into  two,  numbered  114  and  115, 
and  this  is  so  in  the  Rheims-Douay  Version.  Psalms 
114  and  115  appear  in  the  Septuagint,  the  Vulgate  and 
the  Rheims-Douay  Version  as  Psalm  113  with  Verses 
numbered  as  two  Psalms  1-8,  1-18.  Similarly,  Psalm 
147  is  given  in  the  Vulgate  and  Septuagint  as  two,  be- 
ing divided  into  Psalms  146  (verses  i-ii),  and  147 
(verses  12-20),  and  in  this  way  it  appears  in  the  Rheims- 
Douay  Version,  the  two  being  numbered  by  verses  con- 
secutively as  one  poem.  Psalms  42  and  43,  which,  in 
structure  and  thought,  are  parts  of  the  same  poem,  are, 
however,  divided  in  the  Hebrew  (though  some  manu- 

*  Other  examples  of  poems  preserved  probably  in  collections,  and  thence 
transferred  to  their  present  settings,  are  found  in  Genesis  4:23-24,  Genesis 
9:25-27,  Genesis  25:23,  Genesis  27:27-29,  39-40,  Genesis  49:2-27,  Exodus 
15:1-18,  21,  Numbers  21:14-18,  27-30,  Numbers  23:7-10,  18-24,  Num- 
bers 24:^-9,  15-24,  Deuteronomy  32:1-43,  Deuteronomy  33:2-29,  Judges 
5:2-31,  Judges  15:16,  I  Samuel  2:1-10,  II  Samuel  ^:33,  34,  II  Samuel  22: 
2-51  (see  Psalm  18),  II  Samuel  23:1-7,  I  Chronicles  16:8-36,  Isaiah  38: 
10-20,  Jonah  2:2-9,  Habakkuk  3:2-19,  Luke  1:46-55,  Luke  1:68-79,  Luke 
2:14,  Luke  2:29-32.  This  is  poetry,  in  addition  to  tne  poetic  books  of  the 
prophets,  Psalms,  Job,  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and  Lamentations,  and  to  the 
distinct  poems  included  in  Proverbs. 


THE    PSALMS 


189 


scripts  unite  them),  Vulgate  and  Septuagint  texts.  The 
Revised  Versions  indicate  by  the  spacing,  between  verses 
5  and  6  of  Psalm  42,  and  between  Psalms  42  and  43, 
that  we  have  three  stanzas,  or  strophes,  of  one  poem, 
each  closing  with  the  refrain  "Why  art  thou  cast  down 
O  my  soul?"  The  same  arrangement  in  the  printing 
calls  the  reader's  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  are 
distinct  divisions  of  poems  as  in  Psalms  19,  24,  27,  28, 
32,  46,  50,  57,  60,  and  others. 

The  titles  and  inscriptions,  really  editorial  notes  pre- 
fixed to  the  various  Psalms,  are  ancient,  and  represent 
tradition,  or  the  opinions  of  the  editors,  or  compilers. 
These  titles  and  inscriptions  vary  in  different  ancient 
versions.  The  Hebrew  text  gives  us  information  as 
follows  in  regard  to  the  authors  of  the  Psalms : — 


Books 

I 

II 

III 

IV 

V 

David. 

37 

18 

I 

2 

15 

73 

Sons  of  Korah. 
(including  Heman) 

7 

4 

II 

Asaph. 

I 

II 

12 

Solomon. 

I 

I 

2 

Ethan. 

I 

I 

Moses. 

I 

I 

Anonymous. 

4 

4 

0 

14 

28 

50 

41 

31 

17 

17 

44 

ISO 

The  Septuagint  ascribes  also  to  David,  Psalms  33, 
43 J  67?  91 J  93~99>  I04>  making  eighty-five  attributed  to 
David.  Psalms  138,  146,  147,  divided  into  two  (vs 
i-ii,  12-20),  and  148,  have  the  names  of  Haggai  and 


190^  A   BOOK  ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH   BiBLE 

Zechariah  attached  to  them  in  the  Septuagint,  while  137 
has  the  name  of  Jeremiah.  In  the  Vulgate,  Psalm  137 
(136)  is  attributed  to  Jeremiah  and  146  (145)  to  Hag- 
gai  and  Zechariah.  Psalm  144  (143)  is  by  Septuagint 
and  Vulgate  said  to  be  "against  Goliath."  Of  the 
Psalms  attributed  to  David,  25,  34,  37,  145  are  alpha- 
betic acrostic  poems. ^  Psalms  iii,  112  and  119  are 
acrostics,  as  are  the  first  four  chapters  of  Lamenta- 
tions, 2  and  Proverbs  31  :io-3i,  while,  as  has  been  stated, 
Psalms  9  and  10  together  form  an  imperfect  acrostic. 
There  are  traces  of  acrostic  structure  in  Nahum  i : 
2-10,  and  probably  the  original  form  of  Ecclesiasticus 
51  :i3-30  was  acrostic. 

In  the  Septuagint  is  a  Psalm  appended  to  the  collec- 
tion : — 

Psalm  i^i  {Septuagint) 

"A  Psalm  in  the  handwriting  of  David  beyond  the  number 
of  the  PsalmSf  composed  by  David  when  he  fought  in  single 
combat  with  Goliath.** 

I.  "I  was  little  among  my  brethren,  and  the  youngest  in 
my  father's  house;  and  I  kept  also  my  father's  sheep.  2.  My 
hands  made  the  organ;  and  my  fingers  jointed  the  psaltery. 
3.  And  who  will  announce  it  to  my  Lord  ?  He  is  the  Lord,  he 
himself  gives  ear.  4.  He  sent  his  angel  and  took  me  from 
my  father's  sheep,  and  anointed  me  with  the  oil  of  his  anoint- 
ing. 5.  My  brethren  were  comely  and  tall,  nevertheless  the 
Lord  delighted  not  in  them.  6.  I  went  out  to  meet  the  for- 
eigner, and  he  cursed  me  by  his  idols.  7.  (In  the  strength  of 
the  Lord  I  cast  three  stones  at  him.  I  smote  him  in  the  fore- 
head, and  felled  him  to  the  earth.    Arab.)    8.  And  I  drew  out 

^  In  acrostic  or  alphabetic  poems  each  verse  or  group  of  verses  begins 
with  a  letter  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet  in  order.  As  there  are  twenty-two 
letters,  the  number  of  verses  is  twenty-two  or  a  multiple  of  twenty-two. 
Psalm  119  having  eight  verses  to  each  letter. 

'  Lamentations  5  has  22  verses,  but  is  not  an  acrostic. 


THE    PSALMS  I9I 

his  own  sword  from  his  side,  and  cut  off  his  head,  and  took 
away  the  reproach  from  the  children  of  Israel." 

This  Psalm  and  the  inscription  in  the  Septuagint  and 
Vulgate  to  Psalm  144  (143),  "against  Goliath,"  in- 
dicate a  feeling  that  David  must  have  written  a  poem 
about  that  famous  combat,  as  he  did  about  other  hap- 
penings in  his  life,  as  for  example,  Psalm  3  "when  he 
fled  from  Absalom  his  son";  Psalm  34,  "when  he 
changed  his  behaviour  before  Abimelech;"  Psalm  51, 
"when  Nathan  the  prophet  came  unto  him;"  Psalms 
52,  54,  56,  57,  and  others,  although  the  accuracy  of 
these  inscriptions  is  questioned  by  scholars. 

It  is  possible  in  many  instances  to  interpret  a  Psalm 
as  being  either  a  personal,  or  a  national  lyric.  Such  a 
poem  as  Psalm  23  might  be  spoken  by  an  individual, 
or  it  might  be  the  utterance  of  the  whole  nation.  Sev- 
eral, however,  are  peculiarly  national  in  character,  re- 
hearsing as  they  do  the  history  of  Israel,  for  the  purpose 
of  impressing  on  the  minds  of  the  people  their  short- 
comings, and,  in  contrast  to  them,  the  continual  loving- 
kindness  of  God.    Such  are  Psalms  78,  81,  105,  106,  114. 

Some  Psalms  have  reference  specifically  to  the  king, 
and  among  them  are  those  which  are  believed  by  Chris- 
tians to  be  Messianic,  and  to  contain  allusions  to  the 
coming  Christ.  In  primary  meaning,  they  may  be  ap- 
plicable to  the  affairs  of  the  kingdom  of  Israel.  Such 
are  Psalms  2,  18,  20,  21,  45,  61,  63,  72,  89,  loi,  no,  132. 
Other  Psalms  speak  of  the  greatness,  goodness  and 
mercy  of  God,  and  the  sinfulness  of  man.  They  are 
meditations  on  God's  government  of  individuals,  and 
of  the  universe.  Some  are  purely  personal  lyrics  of 
faith,  hope,  joy,  thanksgiving,  or  prayers  for  help  in 
trouble,  or  for  forgiveness.    Still  others  are  inspired  by 


192  A    BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  sight  of  nature  as  Psalms  8  and  19,  the  glory  of  the 
heavens;  Psalm  29,  a  thunderstorm  passing  over  the 
mountains  about  Jerusalem;  or  Psalm  65,  a  song  of  joy 
for  the  harvest.  Two  of  the  poems,  84  and  137,  have 
reference  to  exile,  and  express  the  longing  for  the  wor- 
ship of  the  Temple  from  which  the  authors  are  far  away. 
Psalm  136  is  the  Great  Hallel.^  It  is  national  in  char- 
acter, and,  in  the  form  of  a  splendid  choral,  rehearses 
the  history  of  Israel. 

Two  groups  of  Psalms  are,  113-118,  the  Egyptian 
Hallel,  and,  120-134,  ^^e  Songs  of  Ascents.  The  first 
group  are  sung  in  connection  with  the  celebration  of 
the  Passover,  Pentecost  and  Tabernacles,  at  the  Festi- 
val of  the  Dedication,  and  at  the  New  Moons,  except 
of  the  New  Year.  It  was  probably  the  "  hymn  "  sung 
by  Christ  and  his  disciples  at  the  institution  of  the  Lord's 
Supper,  the  evening  before  the  Crucifixion,  Matthew  26: 
30,  Mark  14:26.  The  poems  of  the  second  group,  it  has 
been  conjectured,  are  associated  with  the  annual  jour- 
neys to  Jerusalem  "whither  the  tribes  go  up."  While 
some  of  these  Psalms  are  appropriate  for  the  pilgrim- 
ages and  deal  with  the  incidents  of  such  journeys,  there 
are  others  which  seem  general  and  to  have  no  such  par- 
ticular application. 2  They  are  all,  however,  placed  in  a 
single  category  by  the  compiler  of  Psalms. 

To  David  are  ascribed,  in  the  Hebrew,  Psalms  122, 

*  See  above,  p.  183,  note.  In  the  English  translation  of  this  Psalm  we  have 
an  instance  of  the  differences  between  the  Revised  Version  and  the  American 
Revised  Version,  in  which  the  substitution  of  "Jehovah"  for  "the  Lord" 
and  "lovingicindness"  for  "mercy,"  in  the  latter,  for  the  sake  of  consistency 
in  translation,  has  marred  the  beautiful  rhythm  of  the  King  James  Version. 
The  English  revisers  were  wise  enough  to  preserve  it.  This  illustrates  one 
of  the  diflSculties  in  the  way  of  translators. 

2  Other  explanations  of  the  title  "Songs  of  Ascents"  or  "Songs  of  Degrees" 
suggest  that  it  refers  to  the  steps  of  the  second  Temple  on  which  the  Songs 
might  have  been  sung,  or  that  it  refers  to  the  return  of  the  exiles  from 
Babylon  to  Jerusalem,  or  that  it  refers  to  the  peculiar  structure  of  the  poems. 


THE    PSALMS  1 93 

124,  131,  133,  and  to  Solomon,  Psalm  127.  In  the  Sep- 
tuagint  the  Songs  of  Ascents  are  anonymous,  while  in 
the  Vulgate  and,  following  it,  the  Rheims-Douay  Ver- 
sion, Psalm  126  (127),  is  ascribed  to  Solomon  and  130 
(131)  and  132  (133)  to  David. 

The  literary  form  of  Biblical  poetry  is  in  some  re- 
spects almost  wholly  obscured  by  the  way  in  which  it 
is  printed,  even  in  the  Revised  Versions,  which  indicate 
only  the  separate  lines  of  each  poem.  Consider  the 
difficulty  of  reading  Shakespeare  intelligently  if  the 
divisions  of  acts  and  scenes,  and  the  names  of  the  char- 
acters were  not  indicated.  It  has  been  thought  per- 
missible, in  the  English  versions  commonly  used,  to 
supply,  in  italics,  words  not  in  the  original,  but  neces- 
sary, or  desirable,  to  make  the  meaning  clear.  It 
would  seem  to  be  equally  desirable  to  indicate  to  the 
eye,  by  the  manner  of  printing,  not  only  the  lines,  but 
also  the  changes  of  speaker  found  in  many  passages  in 
Biblical  poetry,  but  this  has  not  been  done  in  the  Re- 
vised Versions.^  Changes  in  the  person  of  pronouns  in 
the  Psalms  frequently  indicate  change  of  speaker,  but 
the  average  reader  often  does  not  notice  this.  The  use 
of  two  or  more  speakers  gives  a  poem  a  dramatic  qual- 
ity. In  the  songs  and  chorals,  such  as  Psalms  20,  21, 
60,  and  108,  we  have  war  songs,  probably  in  the  form  of 
solo  and  chorus.  When  attention  is  called  to  it,  the 
dramatic  structure  of  many  of  the  poems  is  evident. 

An  example  of  dramatic  structure  is  Psalm  2,  in 
which  there  are  perhaps  four  different  speakers,  the 
Poet,  the  Kings,  Jehovah,  and  the  anointed  King. 
There  are  also  the  following  scenes — a  mustering  of 

^  Special  Editions  give  the  necessary  literary  arrangement  to  the  books 
of  the  Bible.  The  translation  of  The  Holy  Scriptures  issued  by  the  Jewish 
Publication  Society,  makes  use  of  quotation  marks  to  indicate  changes  of 
speaker,  as  in  Psalm  2. 


194  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

rebellious  nations,  a  council  of  Kings,  Heaven,  where 
Jehovah  is  seated  on  his  throne,  the  hill  of  Zion,  where 
the  King  sits  enthroned,  and  from  which  he  tells  of  the 
decree.  The  poem  must  be  arranged  in  some  such  man- 
ner as  this  to  show  the  structure; — 

Psalm  2 

The  Poet 

"Why  do  the  nations  rage, 
And  the  peoples  meditate  a  vain  thing? 
The  kings  of  the  earth  set  themselves, 
And  the  rulers  take  counsel  together, 
Against  Jehovah,  and  against  his  anointed." 

The  Kings 

"Let  us  break  their  bonds  asunder, 
And  cast  away  their  cords  from  us." 

The  Poet 

"He  that  sitteth  in  the  heavens  will  laugh: 
The  Lord  will  have  them  in  derision. 
Then  will  he  speak  unto  them  in  his  wrath, 
And  vex  them  in  his  sore  displeasure." 

Jehovah 

"Yet  have  I  set  my  king 
Upon  my  holy  hill  of  Zion." 

The  Anointed  King 

"I  will  tell  of  the  decree; 

Jehovah  said  unto  me,  *Thou  art  my  son; 

This  day  have  I  begotten  thee. 


THE    PSALMS  1 95 

Ask  of  me  and  I  will  give  thee  the  nations  for  thine  in- 
heritance, 
And  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for  thy  possession. 
Thou  shalt  break  them  with  a  rod  of  iron; 
Thou  shalt  dash  them  in  pieces  like  a  potter's  vessel/" 

The  Poet 

"Now  therefore  be  wise,  O  ye  kings: 

Be  instructed  ye  judges  of  the  earth. 

Serve  Jehovah  with  fear. 

And  rejoice  with  trembling. 

Kiss  the  son  lest  he  be  angry,  and  ye  perish  in  the  way. 

For  his  wrath  will  soon  be  kindled. 

Blessed  are  all  they  that  take  refuge  in  him." 

Other  examples  of  dramatic  structure  are  found  In 
Psalm  45,  in  which  the  poet,  after  several  lines  about 
himself,  addresses,  first  the  king,  verses  2-9,  and  then 
the  queen,  verses  10-17;  and  in  Psalm  91,  in  which 
there  are  two  scenes.  In  the  first  scene  are  two  men, 
one  of  whom  is  telling  the  other  of  Jehovah's  care  of 
those  who  trust  In  him,  verses  1-13;  In  the  second  we 
have  Jehovah  speaking,  or  soliloquizing,  having  seen 
and  heard  the  two  men.  It  Is  obvious  that  there  Is  a 
change  of  speaker  at  verse  14,  because  neither  of  the 
men  could  utter  the  words  contained  In  the  last  three 
verses,  14-16.    Jehovah  alone  could  be  the  speaker: — 

"Because  he  hath  set  his  love  upon  me,  therefore  will  I 
deliver  him: 

I  will  set  him  on  high,  because  he  hath  known  my  name. 

He  shall  call  upon  me,  and  I  will  answer  him; 

I  will  be  with  him  in  trouble: 

I  will  deliver  him,  and  honor  him. 

With  long  life  will  I  satisfy  him. 

And  show  him  my  salvation." 


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In  Psalm  32:8  we  have  a  similar  speech,  which  must 
be  regarded  as  spoken  by  Jehovah: — 

"I  will  instruct  thee  and  teach  thee  in  the  way  which 
thou  shalt  go; 

I  will  counsel  thee  with  mine  eye  upon  thee." 

In  Psalm  50  the  change  of  speaker  is  a  notable  fea- 
ture. The  poet  calls  the  peoples  to  hear  what  God  has 
to  say  to  them,  verses  1-6,  after  which  there  are  two 
speeches  of  God,  one  to  those  that  have  made  a  cove- 
nant by  sacrifice,  verses  7-15,  the  other  to  the  wicked, 
verses  16-21,  the  poem  closing  with  two  verses  sum- 
marizing the  two  speeches. 

The  inscription  "For  the  chief  Musician,"  and  the 
musical  directions  concerning  instruments,  tunes  and 
voices,  which  are  prefixed  to  many  psalms,  indicate 
that  they  are,  as  we  have  them,  adapted  for  singing. 

The  Psalms  were  in  all  probability  sung  at  times  by 
great  gatherings  of  the  people,  as  well  as  by  the  trained 
singers,  and  it  must  have  been  thrilling  and  inspiring 
to  hear  such  a  magnificent  choral  as  Psalm  136,  sung 
by  the  leader,  with  hundreds,  or  perhaps  thousands  of 
voices  joining  in  the  chorus: — 

Solo.  O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord;  for  he  is  good; 
Chorus.  For  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 
Solo.  O  give  thanks  unto  the  God  of  gods: 
Chorus.  For  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 
Solo.  O  give  thanks  to  the  Lord  of  lords: 
Chorus.  For  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 
Solo.  To  him  who  alone  doeth  great  wonders, 
Chorus.  For  his  mercy  endureth  for  ever. 

The  Song  of  Deborah  and  Barak,  Judges,  ch.  5,  we 
know  to  have  been  antiphonal,  and  the  Song  of  Moses, 
Exodus,  ch.  15,  likewise: — 


THE    PSALMS  1 97 

"Then  sang  Moses  and  the  children  of  Israel  this  song  unto 

Jehovah,  and  spake  saying, 

I  will  sing  unto  Jehovah,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously, 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea." 
"And  Miriam  the  prophetess,  the  sister  of  Aaron,  took 

a  timbrel  in  her  hand;  and  all  the  women  went  out  after  her 

with   timbrels   and   with   dances.     And   Miriam   answered 

them. 

Sing  ye  to  Jehovah,  for  he  hath  triumphed  gloriously. 
The  horse  and  his  rider  hath  he  thrown  into  the  sea." 

Other  chorals  arranged  for  solo  and  chorus  are  34, 
an  acrostic,  99,  118.  Perhaps  33  was  sung  by  the  chorus 
and  two  semi-choruses;  verses  1-3,  and  20-22,  being 
sung  by  the  full  chorus,  ^nd  the  two  divisions,  verses 
4-1 1,  and  12-19  each  by  a  semi-chorus.^  Many  of  the 
other  chorals  were  probably  simply  antiphonals,  95, 
96,  97,  98,  100,  113-118,  134,  135,  146,  147,  148,  149, 
150,  the  last  being  adoxology  closing  the  Book  of 
Psalms.  It  will  be  observed  that  these  chorals  are 
found  in  the  third  large  division  of  the  collection,  90- 
150,  comprising  books  four  and  five.  The  only  other 
distinctively  choral  Psalms  are,  24,  30,  and  the  two  al- 
ready mentioned  33,  and  34,  all  of  which  are  in  the 
first  book.  Of  these  30  has  the  inscription  "A  song  at 
the  Dedication  of  the  House,"  and  24  has  no  inscrip- 
tion other  than  "A  Psalm  of  David."  Psalm  24  is  be- 
lieved to  have  been  written  for  what  was  probably  the 
greatest  event  in  David's  entire  career,  the  day  on 
which,  having  finally  conquered  Jerusalem,  which  had 
withstood  attack  for  generations,  thus  rendering  it  im- 
possible for  the  Jews  to  establish  the  center  of  their 
worship  on  Mount  Zion  where  the  Temple  was  to  be 

1  See  The  Modern  Readers  Bible,  ed.  R.  G.  Moulton,  New  York,  1907,  for 
the  text  arranged  as  so  to  show  the  Hterary  structure. 


198  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

built,  he  entered  the  city  in  triumph  with  the  Ark  of 
the  Covenant.^  To  Jehovah  all  praise  is  due  for  the 
conquest,  and  in  Jehovah's  name  the*  challenge  to  the 
warder  at  the  gate  is  given.  A  passage  in  the  his- 
torical books  describing  the  event  is : — 

"And  David  went  and  brought  up  the  ark  of  God  from 
the  house  of  Obed-edom  into  the  city  of  David  with  joy." 
II  Samuel  6:12.^ 

Singing  the  hymn  of  praise  (verses  1-6),  the  proces- 
sion arrives  in  front  of  the  gates.  The  demand  for  ad- 
mission is  made,  and  the  voice  from  the  gate  replies. 
"Jehovah  of  Hosts"  is  the  title  by  which  the  conqueror 
is  known.  Not  until  that  name  is  uttered  are  the  gates 
opened. 

Psalm  24 

I.  Ascending  the  Hill 

The  Question 

"The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the  fulness  thereof; 

The  world,  and  they  that  dwell  therein. 

For  he  hath  founded  it  upon  the  seas, 

And  established  it  upon  the  floods. 

Who  shall  ascend  into  the  hill  of  the  Lord  ? 

And  who  shall  stand  in  his  holy  place?" 

The  Reply 

"He  that  hath  clean  hands,  and  a  pure  heart; 
Who  hath  not  lifted  up  his  soul  unto  vanity, 
And  hath  not  sworn  deceitfully. 
He  shall  receive  a  blessing  from  the  Lord, 

*  For  an  interesting  discussion  of  this,  see  Lectures  on  th  History  of  the 
Jewish  Churchy  A.  P.  Stanley,  London,  1890,  vol.  II,  pp.  68-75. 
'  See  also  I  Chronicles  15:25-16:3. 


THE    PSALMS  I99 

And  righteousness  from  the  God  of  his  salvation. 
This  is  the  generation  of  them  that  seek  after  him, 
That  seek  thy  face,  O  God  of  Jacob." 


11.  J t  the  Gates 
The  Demand 

"Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates; 

And  be  ye  lifted  up,  ye  everlasting  doors: 

And  the  King  of  glory  will  come  in." 

The  Reply 
"Who  is  the  King  of  glory?" 

The  Demand 

"  Jehovah  strong  and  mighty, 
Jehovah  mighty  in  battle. 
Lift  up  your  heads,  O  ye  gates; 
Yea  lift  them  up,  ye  everlasting  doors: 
And  the  King  of  glory  will  come  in." 

The  Reply 
"Who  is  this  King  of  glory  ?" 

The  Demand 

"Jehovah  of  Hosts, 

He  is  the  King  of  glory." 

[The  gates  open,  and  the  procession  enters,] 


CHAPTER  IX 

THE  SONG  OF  SOLOMON 

Five  short  books  included  in  the  sacred  "  Writings," 
or  third  collection,  in  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  are  known 
as  the  Five  Rolls,  or  the  Megilloth,  one  of  which  was 
read  at  each  of  five  solemn  celebrations  by  the  Jews. 
They  are  the  Song  of  Songs,  read  at  the  Passover,  Ruth 
at  Pentecost,  Lamentations  on  the  9th  day  of  the  month 
Ab,  the  day  on  which  Jerusalem  was  destroyed,  Eccle- 
siastes,  (or  Koheleth,)  at  the  feast  of  Booths,  and  Esther 
at  the  feast  of  Purim,(the  Lots).  Passover,  Pentecost 
and  the  feast  of  Booths  are  of  Mosaic  origin.  The 
other  two  are  later. 

The  interpretation  of  the  Song  of  Songs,  or  the  Song 
of  Solomon,  or  the  Canticles,  as  it  is  variously  called, 
as  an  allegory  setting  forth  the  relation  of  God  to  his 
people,  is  the  reason  for  the  inclusion  in  the  Scriptures 
of  this  beautiful  Hebrew  love-poetry.  The  fact  that 
it  is  about  Solomon,  and  is  traditionally  attributed 
to  him  as  author,  is  likewise  of  importance  in  explaining 
its  place  in  the  Bible,  for  everything  by,  or  concerning, 
David  or  Solomon  was  regarded  as  peculiarly  sacred, 
as  we  have  seen  in  considering  the  historical  books. 

There  is  a  Jewish  tradition,  the  reason  for  which  is 
clear  from  their  contents,  that  the  three  canonical  books 
attributed  to  Solomon,  the  Song  of  Songs,  Proverbs 
and  Ecclesiastes  were  written  respectively,  in  his 
youth,  in  his  mature  years,  and  in  his  old  age,  but  there 
is  also  another  thought  of  the  Jews  concerning  these 


THE    SONG    OF    SOLOMON  20I 

books  that  represents  a  quite  different  view  of  them. 
They  thought  them,  considered  as  a  whole,  comparable 
to  the  Temple,  Proverbs  representing  the  outer  court, 
Ecclesiastes  the  holy  place,  and  the  Song  of  Songs  the 
holy  of  holies ;  while  Origen  and  Theodoret  of  the  early 
Christian  Church  likened  them  to  a  ladder  with  three 
steps,  of  which  the  lowest  was  Ecclesiastes,  natural 
and  vain  things.  Proverbs,  moral,  and  the  Song  of 
Songs,  mystical. 

Psalm  45,  which  bears  the  title," A  Song  of  Loves," 
and  is  the  only  poem  of  its  kind  in  the  Bible,  naturally 
comes  to  mind  when  the  Song  of  Songs  is  considered, 
for  the  Psalm  is  composed  of  the  words  of  the  poet  ad- 
dressed to  the  king,  and  to  the  queen,  on  the  occasion 
of  a  royal  wedding,  and  is,  like  the  Song,  interpreted 
as  having  a  secondary  meaning,  referring  to  the  relation 
of  God,  or  of  Christ,  to  his  people. 

So  far  as  the  primary  meaning  is  concerned,  the  lines 
of  the  Song  of  Solomon  are  in  general  quite  clear,  but 
differences  of  opinion  exist  as  to  the  speakers  to  whom 
the  various  lines  are  to  be  assigned,  hence  the  different 
arrangements  of  the  book  given  by  editors.  That  a 
secondary  interpretation  is  not  purely  fanciful  is  clearly 
evidenced  by  the  Oriental  fondness  for  allegory  and 
concealed  meanings,  and  by  passages,  in  both  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New,  in  which  the  relationship  of 
God  to  his  people  is  set  forth  in  the  figure  of  the  bride 
and  bridegroom.  For  example,  Isaiah  says,  62:5,"  as 
the  bridegroom  rejoiceth  over  the  bride,  so  shall  thy 
God  rejoice  over  thee,"  and  in  Revelation  21  :g,  we  read, 
"  I  will  show  thee  the  bride,  the  wife  of  the  Lamb,"  22 117, 
"And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say,  Come."  See  also 
Jeremiah,  ch.  3,  Ezekiel  16:8-14,  and  Ephesians  5:25- 
32.     It  is  of  course  reasoning  in  a  circle  to  say  the  Song 


202  A    BOOK   ABOUT   TttE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  Songs  is  a  spiritual  allegory,  therefore  it  is  in  the 
Bible;  the  Song  of  Songs  is  in  the  Bible,  therefore  it  is 
a  spiritual  allegory. 

The  Targum  finds  in  it  the  whole  history  of  Israel. 
Jews  generally  regard  it  as  setting  forth  the  relation  of 
Jehovah  to  Israel.  The  early  Christian  Church,  accept- 
ing the  Jewish  view  that  the  Song  of  Songs  was  an  alle- 
gory, believed  it  to  refer  to  Christ  and  his  Church. 
This  is  based  on  an  interpretation  of  the  principal  char- 
acters as  being  only  Solomon  and  his  bride.  According 
to  a  modern  view,  however,  there  is  a  third  character 
of  prime  importance,  the  shepherd  lover  of  the  Shula- 
mite  bride,  whom  the  older  interpreters  identified  with 
Solomon  in  disguise.  The  recognition  of  the  shepherd 
lover  as  a  distinct  person  interferes  seriously  with  the 
older  allegorical  interpretation  of  the  poem.  The  mod- 
ern interpretation  finds  an  expression  of  the  ethical  or 
moral  teaching  that  faithfulness  to  the  true  love  of  the 
shepherd  lover  is  far  better  than  yielding  to  the  attrac- 
tions of  a  king's  wealth.  Without  either  the  allegorical 
or  the  ethical  interpretation  the  Song  of  Songs,  though 
wonderfully  beautiful  in  its  language  and  imagery,  is 
purely  sensuous. 

This  passionate  love-poetry  must  always  be  thought 
of  as  written  by  an  Oriental.  The  descriptions  of 
feminine  beauty  are  such  as  abound  in  Arabic  poetry, 
and  are  by  no  means  necessarily  licentious,  though  to 
English  readers,  owing  to  their  different  traditions  and 
forms  of  expression,  they  seem  so.  An  example  of  this, 
which  to  the  English  reader  seems  simply  sensuous,  is 
the  passage  6:13-7:5,  in  which  the  women  ask  the  Shula- 
mite  to  dance,  which  she  does.  They  then  express 
their  admiration  of  her  beauty  as  she  dances.  To  the 
Oriental  there  was  absolutely  nothing  in  the  lines  ex- 


THE    SONG    OF    SOLOMON  203 

cept  pleasure  in  beholding  a  beautiful  woman,  the  de- 
tails of  whose  beauty  are  necessary  to  the  picture. 
The  dancing  is  perhaps  of  the  kind  referred  to  in  Judges 
21:20-21,  where  the  Benjamites  lie  in  wait  in  the  vine- 
yard for  the  purpose  of  catching  wives  from  among  the 
"daughters  of  Shiloh"  if  they  "come  out  to  dance  in 
the  dances." 

The  persons  and  imagery  of  the  Song  of  Solomon  are 
those  of  the  Bible,  the  shepherd,  the  sheep,  the  vine- 
yard, the  mountains,  the  King's  palace,  etc.  The  bride, 
the  Shulamite,  as  a  country  girl  is  described  as  "swarthy 
because  the  sun  hath  scorched"  her.  1:5.  The  king, 
Solomon,  is  described  in  his  magnificence.  3:6-11. 
When  Bishop  Lowth  likened  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
as  regards  literary  form,  to  the  dramatic  eclogues  of 
Theocritus  and  Virgil,  he  called  attention  specifically 
to  the  fact  that  it  is  not  a  drama.  Many  writers  since 
his  time  have  disregarded,  or  have  not  recognized,  the 
distinction,  and  have  called  the  book  a  drama.  As,  for 
much  concerning  the  study  of  the  Bible  as  literature, 
we  turn  for  the  beginning  to  Bishop  Lowth's  Lectures 
on  the  Sacred  Poetry  of  the  Hebrews^  so  for  the  proper 
classification  of  this  unique  work,  the  Song  of  Solomon, 
we  quote  his  words  concerning  some  of  the  early 
critics: — "But  if  they  make  use  of  the  term  dramatic 
according  to  the  common  acceptation  of  the  word, 
this  poem  must  be  supposed  to  contain  a  fable,  or 
entire  and  perfect  plot  or  action,  of  a  moderate  extent, 
in  which  the  incidents  are  all  connected,  and  proceed 
regularly  from  one  another  and  which,  after  several 
vicissitudes,  is  brought  to  a  perfect  conclusion.  But 
certainly  the  bare  representation  of  a  nuptial  festival 
cannot  in  any  respect  answer  to  this  definition.  All 
this,  however,  bears  no  resemblance  to  a  regular  plot, 


204  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

nor  affords  the  piece  any  fairer  title  to  the  appellation 
of  a  perfect  drama  than  the  dramatic  eclogues  of  The- 
ocritus and  Virgil,  in  which  the  loves,  the  amusements, 
and  the  emulations  of  shepherds  are  depicted,  and 
which  no  critic  has  ever  classed  with  the  regular  fables 
of  Euripides  and  Terence."  "There  is,  however,  one 
circumstance  in  which  this  poem  bears  a  very  near 
affinity  to  the  Greek  drama — the  chorus  of  virgins  seems 
in  every  respect  congenial  to  the  tragic  chorus  of  the 
Greeks.  They  are  constantly  present,  and  prepared  to 
fulfil  all  the  duties  of  advice  and  consolation;  they  con- 
verse frequently  with  the  principal  characters;  they 
are  questioned  by  them,  and  they  return  answers  to 
their  inquiries:  they  take  part  in  the  whole  business 
of  the  poem;  and  I  do  not  find  that,  upon  any  occasion, 
they  quit  the  scene.  Some  of  the  learned  have  con- 
jectured that  Theocritus,  who  was  contemporary  with 
the  Seventy  Greek  translators  of  the  Scriptures,  and 
lived  with  them  in  the  court  of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus, 
was  not  unacquainted  with  the  beauties  of  this  poem, 
and  that  he  has  almost  literally  introduced  some  pas- 
sages from  it  into  his  elegant  Idyllium.  (Compare 
Cant.  1:9,  6:10,  with  Theoc.  18:30,  26.  Cant.  4:11 
with  Theoc.  20:26.  Cant.  8 :6, 7,  with  Theoc.  23 :23-26.) "  ^ 
Bishop  Lowth's  comparison  of  the  Song  of  Solomon 
to  the  Idyls  of  Theocritus  brings  to  mind  the  fact  that 
Ruth  and  Esther  and  some  of  the  other  Bible  stories 
are  also  by  modern  editors  called  idyls.  They  are,  how- 
ever, prose  narrations,  while  the  Song  is  intensely  lyric, 
emotional,  passionate.  If  "  idyl "  is  used  of  short  stories, 
in  prose  or  verse,  which  have,  as  did  the  "idyls"  of 
Theocritus,  a  distinctly  pastoral  character,  then  the 
story  of  Esther  is  not  an  idyl,  and  the  term  is,  in  that 
*  Robert  Lowth,  Lectures  on  the  Sacred  Poetry  of  the  Hebrews,pp.  337-8. 


THE    SONG    OF    SOLOMON  205 

and  other  instances,  misused.  It  is  used,  however,  some- 
what loosely,  to  include  such  different  books  as  Ruth, 
Esther,  and  Tobit,  as  well  as  the  Song  of  Solomon,  and 
such  narratives  as  those  of  Isaac  and  Rebekah,  Gene- 
s.is,  ch.  24,  Samson  and  the  Woman  of  Timnah,  Judges, 
ch.  14,  Samson  and  Delilah,  Judges,  ch.  i6. 

With  regard  to  the  meaning  of  the  Song  of  Solomon 
critics  by  no  means  agree,  and  this  is  true  of  the  pri- 
mary meaning,  as  well  as  of  any  secondary  interpretation 
it  may  bear.  It  makes  a  much  more  dramatic  situation, 
as  well  as,  probably,  a  more  reasonable  one,  to  accept 
the  existence  of  the  rustic  lover  as  a  successful  rival  of 
the  king  for  the  affections  of  the  beautiful  Shulamite, 
rather  than  to  suppose  him  to  have  been  King  Solomon 
in  disguise.  The  fact  that  the  closing  scene  occurred, 
not  at  the  palace  of  Solomon,  but  at  the  native  village 
of  the  bride,  is  very  strong  evidence  of  the  correctness 
of  this  view  of  the  poem.  The  riddles  in  the  last  scene 
remind  us  of  the  marriage  feast  and  riddles  of  Samson 
in  Judges  14:10-20.  As  Professor  Driver  says: — "Upon 
the  modern  view,  the  idea  of  the  poem,  the  triumph 
of  plighted  lover  over  the  seductions  of  wordly  magnif- 
icence, is  one  of  real  ethical  value  .  .  .  .  It  is  to  be  noted 
also  that  the  admiration  expressed  in  the  poem  is  not 
(on  either  side)  evoked  by  graces  of  character,  but 
solely  by  the  contemplation  of  physical  beauty:  and 
it  is  only  relieved  from  being  purely  sensuous  by  the  in- 
troduction of  an  ethical  motive,  such  as  is  supplied  by 
the  modern  view,  giving  it  a  purpose  and  an  aim."^ 

M.  Bossuet  in  his  commentary^  recalling  the  fact 
that  solemn  rites,  including  marriage  festivities,  among 

*  See  S.  R.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testamenty 
p.  445. 

2  J.  B.  Bossuet,  Praff  i^  Comment,  in  Cant.  (Euvres,  vol.  i,  pp.  463-500, 
Paris,  1748. 


2o6  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  Hebrews  covered  seven  days,  finds  in  the  poem 
clear  indication  of  the  seven-day  period  such  as  is  rnen- 
tioned  in  Judges  14:12  where  Samson  asks  to  have  his 
riddle  declared  "within  the  seven  days  of  the  feast," 
and  in  Tobit  11:19,  ^he  "wedding  feast  was  kept 
seven  days  with  great  gladness."  The  seven  days  of 
Bossuet  correspond  nearly  to  the  seven  idyls  into 
which  Professor  Moulton  divides  the  Song.^  The  two 
divisions  are  as  follows: — 

Bossuet' s  Seven  Days  MoultorCs  Seven  Idyls 

1.  1:1-2:6.  I.  1:1-2:7. 

2.  2:7-17.  2.  2:8-3:5. 

3.  3-i-S-i-  3-  3:6-5:1. 

4.  5:2-6:8.  4.  5:2-6:3. 

5.  6:9-7:10.  5.  6:4-7:10. 

6.  7:11-8:3.  6.  7:11-8:4. 

7.  8:4-14.  7.  8:5-14. 

The  refrains,  with  which  each  division  of  the  poem 
ends,  are  evidence  of  its  artistic  structure.  The  first 
two  idyls  close  with  the  refrain: — 

**I  adjure  you,  O  daughters  of  Jerusalem, 
By  the  roes,  or  by  the  hinds  of  the  field, 
That  ye  stir  not  up,  nor  awake  my  love. 
Until  he  please."    2:7  and  3:5. 

The  sixth  idyl  closes  with  the  same  refrain,  8:4, 
omitting  the  second  line,  while  the  others  close: — 

3.  "Eat  O  friends; 

Drink,  yea,  drink  abundantly, 
O,  beloved."  5:1. 

4.  "I  am  my  beloved's    and    my    beloved  is  mine, 

1  R.  J.  Moulton,  Modern  Readers*  BibU. 


THE    SONG   OF    SQLOMON  20/ 

He  feedeth  his  flock  among  the  lilies."    6:3. 

5.  " I  am  my  beloved's, 

And  his  desire  is  toward  me/*    7:10. 

7.  "Make  haste  my  beloved, 

And  be  thou  like  to  a  roe  or  to  a  young  hart, 

Upon  the  mountains  of  spices."    8:14. 

Dr.  Ginsburg  divides  the  book  into  five  sections 
as  follows : — ^ 

1.  The  Shulamite  in  the  royal  tent.    1:2-2:7. 

2.  She  tells  the  ladies  of  the  court  of  her  separation  from 
her  beloved.    2:8-3:5. 

3.  The  entry  of  the  royal  procession  into  Jerusalem, 
followed  by  the  shepherd,  who  proposes  to  rescue  her.    3 :6- 

5:1- 

4.  The  Shulamite  tells  of  her  dream.  The  king's  flattery 
fails.    5 :2-8  '.^. 

5.  The  return  to  her  home.    8:5-14. 

Others  divide: — 

1.  The  longings  of  love.    1:2-2:7. 

2.  The  lovers  find  each  other.    2:8-3:5. 

3.  The  nuptials.    3:6-5:1. 

4.  Separation  and  reunion.    5:2-6:9. 

5.  Praise  of  the  lovers.    6:10-8:4. 

6.  Confirmation  of  love  and  fidelity.    8:5-14. 

Owing  to  changes  of  person  in  pronouns,  and  be- 
cause of  the  meaning  of  the  lines,  we  must  assign 
them  to  different  speakers,  as  must  be  done  with  some 
of  the  Psalms,  and  as  is  done  in  Job.  We  find  the 
dramatis  personce  to  be  probably: — 

*  C.  D.  Ginsburg,  The  Song  of  Songs,  London,  1857. 


208  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Chorus  of  daughters  of  Jerusalem  (or  ladies  of  the  court). 
The  Bride  (The  Shulamite). 
The  Bridegroom  (Solomon). 

Watchmen  of  the  city.  Keepers  of  the  walls  (in  the 
dreams). 

Citizens  of  Jerusalem. 
The  Shulamite's  brothers. 
A  villager  of  Shulem. 
Shepherds  of  Shulem. 
The  Shepherd  lover. 

The  various  scenes  are  represented  as  occurring  at 
several  different  places,  some  of  them  actual,  and  others 
to  be  pictured  by  the  imagination  in  connection  with 
events  described.    The  scenes  are  probably: — 

1.  The  harem  of  Solomon.  1:2-2:7.  The  neighborhood 
of  the  Shulamite's  home.  2:8-17  (memories).  The  streets 
of  the  city.    3  :i-4  (a  dream). 

2.  A  gate  of  Jerusalem  with  a  pageant  approaching.  3  :6- 
II. 

3.  The  banquet  hall  of  Solomon's  palace.    4:1-16. 

4.  The  harem  of  Solomon.  5:2-6:9.  The  streets  of  the 
city.    5:2-7  (a  dream). 

5.  A  nut  grove.    6:10-8:4. 

6.  A  valley  near  Shulem.    8:5-7. 

7.  The  home  of  the  Shulamite.    8:8-14. 

A  very  significant  fact  in  connection  with  the  Song 
of  Solomon  is  that  in  Syria  to-day  "the  first  seven  days 
after  a  wedding  are  called  *the  king's  week,'  the 
young  pair  play  during  this  time  king  and  queen;  the 
*  threshing  board '  is  turned  into  a  mock  throne,  on 
which  they  are  seated,  while  songs  are  sung  before 
them  by  the  villagers  and  others,  celebrating  them  on 
their  happiness,   among  which    the  wasf^  or  poetical 


THE    SONG    OF    SOLOMON  209 

'description'  of  the  physical  beauty  of  the  bride  and 
bridegroom  holds  a  prominent  place." ^  On  successive 
days  other  wedding-songs  are  sung,  and  it  has  been 
suggested  that  the  Song  of  Solomon  is  a  collection  of 
such  songs. 

Origen  and  Jerome  say  that  the  Jews  forbade  the 
reading  of  the  book  by  any  person  less  than  thirty 
years  old  on  the  ground  that  maturity  of  mind  was 
essential  to  an  understanding  of  the  spiritual  meaning. 

^  S.  R.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament,  p.  452, 
quoting  from  an  article  on  marriage  customs  by  J.  G.  Wetzstein  in  Bastian's 
Ztsch.  f.  Ethnologies  1873,  p.  270S. 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  WISDOM  BOOKS 

Proverbs  and  Ecclesiastes  are  both  attributed  to 
Solomon,  the  former  being  entitled  the  Proverbs  of 
Solomon  the  son  of  David,  King  of  Israel,  and  the  latter 
the  Words  of  Koheleth  the  son  of  David,  King  in  Jer- 
usalem. Koheleth  is  a  proper  name,  which  was  in  the 
Septuagint  translated  Ecclesiastes,  or  the  Preacher. 
The  word  that  we  associate  with  Solomon  is  "wis- 
dom. "  2  Both  Proverbs  and  Ecclesiastes  are  books  of 
instruction  in  "wisdom."  The  "Preacher"  applied  his 
heart: — 

"to  seek  and  to  search  out  by  wisdom  concerning  all  that 
is  done  under  heaven.''    Ecclesiastes  1:13. 

while  the  author  of  Proverbs  begins  by  saying:-  — 

"To  know  wisdom  and  instruction; 

To  discern  the  words  of  understanding."    Proverbs  i  :2. 

Two  books  in  the  Apocrypha  belong  as  literature  in 
the  same  category,  and  they  have  for  their  titles  the 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  the  Wisdom  of  Jesus  the  son 
of  Sirach,  or  Ecclesiasticus.  To  these  four  books  must 
be  added  Job,  the  profoundest  philosophical  work  of 
them  all,  and,  like  them,  as  chapter  11,  chapter  28, 

*  David  also  had  a  reputation  for  wisdom  as  is  stated  in  II  Samuel  14: 
17-20,  19:27. 

3x0 


THE   WISDOM    BOOKS  211 

and  other  passages  indicate,  a  "wisdom"  book,  the 
record  of  the  thoughts  of  deep  thinkers  concerning  the 
problems  by  which  man  is  confronted. 

The  wisdom  books  have  been  spoken  of  ^  as  con- 
stituting a  complete  philosophy,  for  the  understanding 
of  which  it  is  necessary  to  read  them  in  a  particular 
order,  including  in  the  series  the  two  wisdom  books 
of  the  Apocrypha,  the  order  being.  Proverbs,  Ecclesi- 
asticus,  Ecclesiastes,  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon.  The 
first  two  books  consist  chiefly  of  observations  of  life 
with  little  attempt  at  analysis  or  synthesis.  The  last 
two  consist  of  the  results  of  analysis  leading  in  Ecclesi- 
astes to  the  conclusion,  from  a  consideration  of  this 
world  alone,  that  "all  is  vanity  and  a  striving  after 
wind":— 

"For  the  living  know  that  they  shall  die:  but  the  dead  know 
not  anything,  neither  have  they  any  more  a  reward;  for  the 
memory  of  them  is  forgotten."    Ecclesiastes  9:5. 

Man  cannot  understand  the  reasons  for  all  that  hap- 
pens, but  knows  that  God  is  omnipotent  and  also  just: — 

"This  is  the  end  of  the  matter;  all  hath  been  heard:  Fear 
God  and  keep  his  commandments;  for  this  is  the  whole  duty 
of  man."    Ecclesiastes  12:13. 

The  author  of  the  Wisdom  of  Solomon  with  a  clear 
belief  in  the  immortality  of  the  soul  writes : — 

"Because  of  her  [Wisdom]  I  shall  have  immortality, 
And  leave  behind  an  eternal  memory  to  them  that  come 
after  me."    The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  8:13. 

*  R.  G.  Moulton,  The  Modern  Readers'  Bible,  pp.  1450-53. 


212  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

and: — 

**For  to  be  acquainted  with  thee  [God]  is  perfect  righteous- 
ness, 

And  to  know  thy  dominion  is  the  root  of  immortality." 
The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  15 :3. 

which  is  strikingly  similar  to: — 

"And  this  is  life  eternal  that  they  might  know  thee  the 
only  true  God."    John  17:3. 

These  books  differ  from  the  writings  of  the  prophets 
in  the  nature  of  the  subjects  discussed,  and  especially 
in  the  relation  of  the  authors  of  the  books  to  their  sub- 
jects. The  results  of  man's  efforts  to  understand  his 
relations  to  God,  and  to  the  world  in  which  he  lives, 
are  found  in  such  poetry  as  Psalms  104  and  139,  and 
elsewhere  in  the  Psalms.  Records  of  a  man's  observa- 
tions of  life,  and  the  conclusions  he  has  drawn  from 
them  for  his  own  information  and  guidance  occur,  for 
example: — 

"I  have  been  young  and  now  am  old; 

Yet  have  I  not  seen  the  righteous  forsaken, 

Nor  his  seed  begging  bread."    Psalm  37:25. 

or  the  following  from  a  "wisdom"  poem: — 

"My  mouth  shall  speak  wisdom; 

And  the  meditation  of  my  heart  shall  be  of  understanding." 
Psalm  49:3. 

Biblical  wisdom  books  are  the  representatives  of 
what  must  have  been  an  extensive  literature,  still 
other  examples  of  which   exist  in   Enoch,   and  other 


THE    WISDOM    BOOKS  213 

Pseudepigrapha,  to  which  we  to-day  would  give  the  title 
philosophy.  The  wisdom  literature  was  not  only  phil- 
osophical, but  also  probably  specifically  intended,  in 
the  form  in  which  we  have  it,  to  be  used  for  purposes 
of  instruction. 

To  the  wisdom  class  belong  also  the  Epistle  of 
James,  and  the  books  of  "Sayings,"  of  which  the  Ser- 
mon on  the  Mount  is  the  greatest  example,  and  of 
which  the  parables  are  also  examples.  These,  like  the 
book  of  Job,  are  concerned  chiefly  with  spiritual 
matters.  In  common  with  other  examples  of  wisdom 
literature,  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  and  the  other 
discourses  of  Jesus,  in  which  the  parables  occur,  were 
definitely  "  teachings." 

It  was,  probably,  in  order  to  make  what  was  said 
easy  to  remember,  as  a  result  of  being  impressive  when 
heard,  that  the  most  direct  expression  was  employed. 
The  couplet,  or  simplest  poetic  form,  was  the  usual, 
but  not  invariable  vehicle,  much  of  Ecclesiastes  being 
in  prose. ^  The  wisdom  literature  is  the  formulation  of 
the  results  not  simply  of  abstract  reasoning,  but  of 
actual  experience  and  observation  with  the  conclusions 
drawn  from  them.  The  prophet  announces  "Thus 
saith  the  Lord, "  but  the  philosopher,  in  his  own  person, 
and  of  his  own  knowledge  speaks: — 

"My  son  hear  the  instruction  of  thy  father, 

And  forsake  not  the  law  of  thy  mother."    Proverbs  i  :8. 

**My  son,  attend  unto  my  wisdom; 

Incline  thine  ear  to  my  understanding."     Proverbs  5:1. 

**I  have  seen  all  the  works  that  are  done  under  the  sun, 

*  The  Holy  Bible,  an  Improved  Edition,  American  Baptist  Publication 
Society,  1912,  and  The  Holy  Scriptures,  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  Amer- 
ica, 1917,  both  indicate,  by  the  arrangement  of  the  lines,  the  poetical  por- 
tions of  Ecclesiastes.  The  Revised  Versions  print  the  book  as  though  it 
were  all  prose. 


214  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

and  behold  all  is  vanity  and  striving  after  wind."     Eccle- 

siastes  i  .14. 

"Unto  you  therefore,  O  princes  are  my  words, 

That  ye  may  learn  wisdom  and  fall  not  from  the  right 

way."  ...     "As  I  learned  without  guile,  I  impart  without 

grudging; 

I  do  not  hide  her  riches."    The  Wisdom  of  Solomon  6:9,  7: 

"Hear  me  your  father,  O  my  children, 

And  do  thereafter  that  ye  may  be  saved. 

For  the  Lord  hath  given  the  father  glory  as  touching  the 
children. 

And  hath  confirmed  the  judgment  of  the  mother  as  touch- 
ing the  sons."    Ecclesiasticus  3:1,  2. 

Much  of  the  instruction  of  the  wisdom  books  is 
on  subjects  that  are  peculiarly  of  this  world,  and  con- 
cerned very  definitely  with  "the  now  and  here." 
Some  of  the  advice  given  seems,  at  first  reading,  to  be 
based  on  a  philosophy  of  expediency.  Sin  and  wrong- 
doing do  not  pay.  They  do  not  lead  to  happiness  here. 
The  old  man  knows  whereof  he  speaks.  He  has  lived 
a  long  while,  and  he  has  seen  all  kinds  of  people,  and  all 
kinds  of  lives,  but  he  has  never  seen  a  sinful  life  that 
could  by  any  right-minded  person  be  regarded  as  suc- 
cessful:— 

"So  are  the  ways  of  every  one  that  is  greedy  of  gain; 
It  taketh  away  the  life  of  the  owners  thereof."     Proverbs 
1:19. 

"For  wisdom  shall  enter  into  thy  heart, 

And  knowledge  shall  be  pleasant  unto  thy  soul; 

Discretion  shall  watch  over  thee; 

Understanding  shall  keep  thee: 

To  deliver  thee  from  the  way  of  evil, 


THE    WISDOM    BOOKS  215 

From  men  that  speak  perverse  things;  .  .  . 

To  deHver  thee  from  the  strange  woman,  ... 

For  her  house  indineth  unto  death,  .  .  . 

None  that  go  unto  her  return  again.'*    Proverbs  2:10-19. 

"My  son,  if  thou  art  become  surety  for  thy  neighbor. 
If  thou  hast  stricken  thy  hands  for  a  stranger; 
Thou  art  snared  with  the  words  of  thy  mouth, 
Thou  art  taken  with  the  words  of  thy  mouth."    Proverbs 
6:1-2. 

"There  are  six  things  which  Jehovah  hateth; 
Yea  seven  which  are  an  abomination  unto  him: 
Haughty  eyes,  a  lying  tongue. 
And  hands  that  shed  innocent  blood; 
A  heart  that  deviseth  wicked  purposes. 
Feet  that  are  swift  in  running  to  mischief, 
A  false  witness  that  uttereth  lies. 

And  he  that  soweth  discord  among  brethren."  Proverbs 
6:16-19. 

"Hear  thou,  my  son,  and  be  wise, 
And  guide  thy  heart  in  the  way. 
Be  not  among  winebibbers. 
Among  gluttonous  eaters  of  flesh: 

For  the  drunkard  and  the  glutton  shall  come  to  poverty; 
And  drowsiness  will  clothe  a  man  with  rags."     Proverbs 
23:19-21. 

The  tongue  is  particularly  spoken  of  in  many  pas- 
sages as  one  of  the  greatest  of  mischief-makers.  This 
is  the  result  of  observation  of  the  consequences  fol- 
lowing unwise  or  malicious  words: — 

"For  lack  of  wood  the  fire  goeth  out; 

And  where  there  is  no  whisperer,  contention  ceaseth." 
Proverbs  26:20. 


2l6  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Put  away  from  thee  a  wayward  mouth, 

And  perverse  Hps  put  far  from  thee."     Proverbs  4:24. 

"He  that  hideth  hatred  is  of  lying  lips; 
And  he  that  uttereth  a  slander  is  a  fool. 
In  the  multitude  of  words  there  wanteth  not  transgression; 
But  he  that  refraineth  his  lips  doeth  wisely. 
The  tongue  of  the  righteous  is  as  choice  silver: 
The  heart  of  the  wicked  is  little  worth."     Proverbs  10: 
18-20.. 

"A  soft  answer  tumeth  away  wrath; 

But  a  grievous  word  stirreth  up  anger."    Proverbs  15:1. 

In  Psalms  we  read  this  description  of  the  man  who 
shall  sojourn  in  Jehovah's  tabernacle: — 

"He  that  walketh  uprightly,  and  worketh  righteousness. 

And  speaketh  truth  in  his  heart; 

He  that  slandereth  not  with  his  tongue, 

Nor  doeth  evil  to  his  friend."    Psalm  15:2-3. 

The  repeated  references  to  the  tongue  in  Proverbs 
and  other  wisdom  books  remind  us  of  the  familiar  pas- 
sage in  the  New  Testament,  which  expresses  the  opin- 
ions of  wise  men  on  that  subject.  James,  which  is  a 
wisdom  book,  gives  us  the  following: — 

"So  the  tongue  also  is  a  little  member,  and  boasteth  great 
things.  Behold,  how  much  wood  is  kindled  by  how  small  a 
fire!  And  the  tongue  is  a  fire:  the  world  of  iniquity  among 
our  members  is  the  tongue."    James  3 :5-6. 

In  Ecclesiastes  we  find  the  same  ideas: — 

"By  slothfulness  the  roof  sinketh  in; 

And  through  idleness  of  the  hands  the  house  leaketh. 


THE    WISDOM    BOOKS  ZIJ 

A  feast  IS  made  for  laughter, 

And  wine  maketh  glad  the  Hfe; 

And  money  answereth  all  things. 

Revile  not  the  king,  no,  not  in  thy  thought; 

And  revile  not  the  rich  in  thy  bed-chamber: 

For  a  bird  of  the  heavens  shall  carry  the  voice, 

And  that  which  hath  wings  shall  tell  the  matter."  Eccle- 
siastes  10:18-20. 

"The  words  of  a  wise  man's  mouth  are  gracious; 

But  the  lips  of  a  fool  will  swallow  up  himself; 

The  beginning  of  the  words  of  his  mouth  is  foolishness; 

And  the  end  of  his  talk  is  mischievous  madness."  Ec- 
clesiastes  10:12-13. 

Of  the  trouble-maker  we  have  a  description  which 
IS  vivid,  and  evidently  the  result  of  personal  observa- 
tion : — 

"A  worthless  person,  a  man  of  iniquity. 

Is  he  that  walketh  with  a  perverse  mouth; 

That  winketh  with  his  eyes, 

That  speaketh  with  his  feet, 

That  maketh  signs  with  his  fingers; 

In  whose  heart  is  perverseness. 

Who  deviseth  evil  continually. 

Who  soweth  discord."    Proverbs  6:12-14. 

The  sly  wink  impressed  Solomon  for  he  refers  to  it 
again : — 

"He  that  winketh  with  the  eye  causeth  sorrow; 
But  a  prating  fool  shall  fall."    Proverbs  10:10. 

And  Ben  Sirach  writes: — 

"One  that  winketh  with  the  eye  contriveth  evil  things; 
And  no  man  will   remove  him  from  it."    Ecclesiasticus 
27:22. 


2l8  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

These  are  all  matters  concerning  which  the  expe- 
rience of  years  entitled  the  writer  to  give  instruction. 
The  whole  range  of  possible  sins,  and  evidences  of 
unwisdom,  particularly  on  the  part  of  the  young  or 
inexperienced,  is  included  in  the  wisdom  books.  Em- 
phasis is  laid  on  the  lot  in  this  world  of  the  man  that 
is  dishonest,  a  liar,  slanderous,  unchaste,  a  drunk- 
ard, a  glutton,  or  a  loafer.  A  man  that  is  any  one  of 
these  things  can  look  forward  to  shame,  disease,  and 
poverty  as  the  result.  The  fact  that  sin  displeases  and 
virtue  pleases  Jehovah  is,  of  course,  repeatedly  men- 
tioned, but  it  seems  that  the  chief  thought  in  the 
teachings  of  the  wisdom  books  is  that  sin  will  inevitably 
bring  its  own  punishment,  and  righteousness  its  own 
reward,  not  in  the  world  to  come,  about  which  the  Old 
Testament  has  very  little  to  say,  but  here,  in  this  world, 
and  in  the  person  of  the  sinner: — 

"Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out."    Numbers  32:23. 
Or,  in  the  words  of  the  New  Testament: — 

"Whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he  also  reap.  For 
he  that  soweth  unto  his  own  flesh  shall  of  the  flesh  reap  cor- 
ruption; but  he  that  soweth  unto  the  Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit 
reap  eternal  life."    Galatians  6:7. 

The  Old  Testament  throughout,  lays  stress  on  a 
happy  life  here,  the  New  Testament  on  a  happy  life 
hereafter.  At  the  height  of  his  greatness,  when  he  was 
respected,  and  his  advice  sought  by  all,  Job's  blessings 
and  happiness,  including  "the  friendship  of  God,"  were 
definitely  of  this  world.  His  perplexity  was  not  un- 
natural, when,  with  no  change  in  his  conduct  of  which 
he  was  aware,  he  found  himself  afflicted  and  held  in 


THE   WISDOM    BOOKS  219 

derision.  The  effort  of  Job  and  his  friends  to  find  some 
solution  of  the  problem  of  his  suffering  is  expressed  in 
the  words  of  a  wisdom  book. 

There  are  grades  or  varieties  of  wisdom.  There  is 
a  purely  worldly  wisdom,  such  as  Jesus  referred  to  when 
he  said: — 

"The  sons  of  this  world  are  for  their  own  generation  wiser 
than  the  sons  of  the  light."    Luke  16:8. 

This  wisdom  is  the  result  of  experience,  as  in  Job  12: 
12-13,  "with  aged  men  is  wisdom."  In  this  case  the 
wisdom  of  a  course  of  action  is  usually  determined  by 
the  results  of  it.  In  Ecclesiastes  we  read  of  this  sort 
of  wisdom  in  a  parable: — 

"I  have  also  seen  wisdom  under  the  sun  on  this  wise, 
and  it  seemed  great  unto  me.  There  was  a  little  city,  and 
few  men  within  it;  and  there  came  a  great  king  against  it 
and  besieged  it,  and  built  great  bulwarks  against  it.  Now 
there  was  found  in  it  a  poor  wise  man,  and  he  by  his  wisdom 
delivered  the  city;  yet  no  man  remembered  that  same  poor 
man.  Then  said  I,  Wisdom  is  better  than  strength;  never- 
theless the  poor  man's  wisdom  is  despised,  and  his  words 
are  not  heard.'*    9:13-16. 

There  is  another  wisdom,  resulting  from  the  fear  of 
Jehovah,  by  which  men  guide  and  control  their  lives: — 

"The  fear  of  Jehovah  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom."  Prov- 
erbs 9:10. 

"Surely  there  is  a  mine  for  silver,  And  a  place  for  gold 
which  they  refine.  .  .  . 

But  where  shall  wisdom  be  found? 

And  where  is  the  place  of  understanding?  .  .  . 


220  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

God  understandeth  the  way  thereof, 
And  he  knoweth  the  place  thereof.  .  .  . 
Behold,  the  fear  of  the  Lord  that  is  wisdom; 
And  to  depart  from  evil  is  understanding."    Job  28:1,  12, 
23,  28. 

In  Proverbs  we  read:; — 

"The  fear  of  Jehovah  is  the  beginning  of  knowledge."    1 7. 

"Jehovah  giveth  wisdom;  .  .  . 

He  layeth  up  sound  wisdom  for  the  upright."    2:6,  7. 

"The  fear  of  Jehovah  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom; 

And  knowledge  of  the  Holy  One  is  understanding."    9:10. 

Perhaps  the  idea  stated  negatively  is: — 

"The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart  there  is  no  God."  Psalm 
14:1. 

There  is  the  conception  of  wisdom  as  having  been  in 
the  possession  of  Jehovah  when  he  created  the  uni- 
verse : — 

"Jehovah  by  wisdom  founded  the  earth; 

By  understanding  he  established  the  heavens. 

By  his  knowledge  the  depths  were  broken  up, 

And  the  skies  drop  down  the  dew."    Proverbs  3 119-20. 

"Jehovah  possessed  me  [wisdom]  in  the  beginning  of  his 
way, 

Before  his  works  of  old."    Proverbs  8 :22. 

"  When  he  made  a  decree  for  the  rain. 

And  a  way  for  the  lightning  of  the  thunder; 

Then  did  he  see  it  [wisdom],  and  declare  it; 

He  established  it,  yea,  and  searched  it  out."    Job  28 126-27. 


THE   WISDOM    BOOKS  221 

"All  Wisdom  Cometh  from  the  Lord, 

And  is  with  him  forever.'*    Ecclesiasticus  i  :i. 

Wisdom  here  has  reference  to  God's  ordering  and 
governing  of  nature  and  man.  The  thought  probably  is 
that  the  universe  reveals  evidences  of  intelligent  de- 
sign in  all  its  parts,  and  in  their  relations  to  each  other, 
and  in  the  government  of  all.  An  interesting  passage 
concerning  the  part  of  this  wisdom  in  the  creation  and 
government  of  the  "things  that  are"  is  the  following: — 

"For  himself  [God]  gave  me  an  unerring  knowledge  of  the 

things  that  are, 

To  know  the  constitution  of  the  world,  and  the  operation 

of  the  elements; 

The  beginning  and  end  and  middle  of  times. 

The    alternations    of  the  solstices  and   the  changes  of 

seasons. 

The  circuits  of  years  and  the  positions  of  stars: 

The  natures  of  living  creatures  and  the  ragings  of  wild 

beasts. 

The  violences  of  winds  and  the  thoughts  of  men. 

The  diversities  of  plants  and  the  virtues  of  roots: 

All  things  that  are  either  secret  or  manifest  I  learned, 

For  she  that  is  the  artificer  of  all  things  taught  me,  even 

wisdom."    TheWisdom  of  Solomon  7:17-22. 

PROVERBS 

The  Book  of  Proverbs  is  a  compilation,  chapters  1-9 
being  admonitions  to  young  men  concerning  the  temp- 
tations of  youth,  and  including  the  wisdom  poems,  in 
which  wisdom  is  personified  as  crying  aloud  in  the  street, 
and  by  the  city  gate.  Chapters  10:1-22:16  give  a  col- 
lection of  proverbs  of  Solomon,  which  are  not  con- 
nected in  literary  unity,  but  deal  with  various  topics. 


222  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

There  is  in  them  the  result  of  keen  observation  of  men, 
their  manners,  words  and  deeds.  With  22:17  ^^  begin 
another  supplement  consisting  perhaps  of  "proverbs  of 
Solomon  which  the  men  of  Hezekiah,  King  of  Judah, 
copied  out,"  as  chapters  25-29  are  expressly  stated  to 
be. 

The  words  of  Agur,  and  the  words  of  King  Lemuel, 
chapters  30,  31,  are  called  "oracles"  or  "burdens,"  a 
t^rm  applied  to  the  writings  of  prophets,  Isaiah  13:1, 
15:1,  etc.  The  book  closes  with  an  acrostic  poem, 
which  gives  a  beautiful  and  discriminating  picture  of 
"a  worthy  woman."  This  poem,  and,  in  fact,  the 
entire  book  of  Proverbs  is  "  gnomic  "  poetry,  of  which, 
in  addition  to  the  ethical  and  religious  varieties,  we 
find  in  the  Bible  other  examples,  such  as  the  fable 
of  Jotham  about  the  trees.  Judges  9:8-15;  the  riddle 
of  Samson,  Judges  14:12-18,  which  resulted  in  a 
guessing  contest  and  a  wager;  and  the  riddles  of  the 
four  insatiable  things,  Proverbs  30:15,  16;  the  four 
incomprehensible  things,  vs.  18-20;  the  four  unendur- 
able things,  vs.  21-23;  the  four  wise  things,  vs.  24-28; 
the  four  stately  things,  vs.  29-31.  Other  examples  of 
this  kind  of  poetry  are  found  in  Proverbs  6:16-19, 
where  we  have  seven  "things  which  Jehovah  hateth"; 
and  in  Ecclesiasticus,  25,  three  beautiful  things,  v.  i; 
three  hateful  kinds  of  men,  v.  2;  ten  happy  things, 
vs.  7-11;  26,  four  things  to  be  afraid  of,  v.  5;  three 
things  that  cause  grief  and  anger,  v.  28.  Similar  to 
these  so-called  "numerical"  proverbs  is  Ecclesiasticus 
42:1-8,  a  list  of  things  of  which  not  to  be  ashamed;  and 
the  two  things  asked  by  Agur,  Proverbs  30:7-9;  and 
the  three  kinds  of  men,  Ecclesiasticus  23:16.  Distinct 
and  complete  gnomic  poems  are  the  poem  on  the 
drunkard,  Proverbs  23:29-35;  the  two  poems  on  the 


THE    WISDOM    BOOKS  223 

sluggard,  Proverbs  6:6-ii  and  24:30-34,  both  of  which 
end  with  the  same  lines;  the  pastoral  poem,  Proverbs 
27:23-27;  the  words  of  Agur,  Proverbs  30:7-9;  the 
words  of  King  Lemuel's  Mother,  Proverbs  31:2-9; 
Job,  ch.  28,  which  is  a  wisdom  poem;  the  collection 
of  poems  forming  a  series  of  discourses  on  wisdom  in 
Proverbs,  chs.  1-9;  the  wisdom  poems  found  in  the 
Wisdom  of  Solomon,  and  in  Ecclesiasticus;  and  other 
poems  in  the  wisdom  books,  which  are  so  printed  in 
the  Revised  Versions  as  to  be  easily  identified.  The 
literary  unity  and  completeness  of  such  poems  appears 
when  they  are  taken  out  of  their  usual  setting  in  the 
midst  of  a  page  of  the  Bible,  as  will  be  seen  from  the 
following  examples: — 

The  Drunkard 
Proverbs  23 129-35 

"Who  hath  woe?  Who  hath  sorrow?  Who  hath  conten- 
tions ? 

Who  hath  complaining  ?    Who  hath  wounds  without  cause  ? 

Who  hath  redness  of  eyes? 

They  that  tarry  long  at  the  wine; 

They  that  go  to  seek  out  mixed  wine. 

Look  not  thou  upon  the  wine  when  it  is  red, 

When  it  sparkleth  in  the  cup, 

When  it  goeth  down  smoothly: 

At  the  last  it  biteth  like  a  serpent, 

And  stingeth  like  an  adder. 

Thine  eyes  shall  behold  strange  things. 

And  thy  heart  shall  utter  perverse  things. 

Yea,  thou  shalt  be  as  he  that  lieth  down  in  the  midst  of  the 
sea, 

Or  as  he  that  Heth  upon  the  top  of  a  mast. 

They  have  stricken  me,  shalt  thou  say,  and  I  was  not  hurt; 


224  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

They  have  beaten  me,  and  I  felt  it  not: 
When  shall  I  awake  ?  I  will  seek  it  yet  again." 

The  Sluggard 
Proverbs  6:6-11 

"Go  to  the  ant,  thou  sluggard; 
Consider  her  ways,  and  be  wise: 
Which  having  no  chief, 
Overseer,  or  ruler, 
Provideth  her  bread  in  the  summer, 
And  gathereth  her  food  in  the  harvest. 
How  long  wilt  thou  sleep,  O  sluggard  ? 
When  wilt  thou  arise  out  of  thy  sleep? 
Yet  a  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber, 
A  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep: 
So  shall  thy  poverty  come  as  a  robber. 
And  thy  want  as  an  armed  man." 

The  Sluggard's  Field 
Proverbs  24:30-34 

"I  went  by  the  field  of  the  sluggard, 

And  by  the  vineyard  of  the  man  void  of  understanding; 

And,  lo,  it  was  all  grown  over  with  thorns, 

The  face  thereof  was  covered  with  nettles, 

And  the  stone  wall  thereof  was  broken  down. 

Then  I  beheld,  and  considered  well; 

I  saw  and  received  instruction: 

Yet  3.  little  sleep,  a  little  slumber, 

A.  little  folding  of  the  hands  to  sleep; 

So  shall  thy  poverty  come  as  a  robber. 

And  thy  want  as  an  armed  man." 

One  poem  is  addressed  to  the  sluggard  himself,  the 
Other  is  the  impressions  received  from  beholding  the 
decayed  condition  of  his  field  and  vineyard. 


THE   WISDOM    BOOKS  225 

In  contrast  to  the  poems  on  the  sluggard  is  the  follow- 
ing:— 

The  Care  of  the  Flock 

Proverbs  27:23-27 

*'  Be  thou  diligent  to  know  the  state  of  thy  flocks, 
And  look  well  to  thy  herds : 
For  riches  are  not  forever; 

And  doth  the  crown  endure  unto  all  generations? 
The  hay  is  carried,  and  the  tender  grass  showeth  itself, 
And  the  herbs  of  the  mountains  are  gathered  in. 
The  lambs  are  for  thy  clothing. 
And  the  goats  are  the  price  of  the  field; 
And  there  will  be  goats'  milk  enough  for  thy  food,  for  the 
food  of  thy  household. 

And  maintenance  for  thy  maidens/' 

Profound  knowledge  of  human  nature  is  displayed 
in  these  two  poems: — 

The  Beggar 
Ecclesiasticus  40:28-30 

"My  son,  lead  not  a  beggar's  life; 

Better  it  is  to  die  than  to  beg. 

A  man  that  looketh  unto  the  table  of  another. 

His  life  is  not  to  be  counted  for  a  life; 

He  will  pollute  his  soul  with  another  man's  meats: 

But  a  man  wise  and  well-instructed  will  beware  thereof. 

In  the  mouth  of  the  shameless  begging  will  be  sweet; 

And  in  his  belly  a  fire  shall  be  kindled." 

How  to  Become  Beloved 
Ecclesiasticus  4:7-10 

"Get  thyself  the  love  of  the  congregation; 
And  to  a  great  man  bow  thy  head. 


226  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Incline  thine  ear  to  a  poor  man, 
And  answer  him  with  peaceable  words  in  meekness. 
Deliver  him  that  is  wronged  from  the  hand  of  him  that 
wrongeth  him; 

And  be  not  fainthearted  in  giving  judgment. 

Be  as  a  father  unto  the  fatherless, 

And  instead  of  a  husband  unto  their  mother: 

So  shalt  thou  be  as  a  son  of  the  Most  High, 

And  he  shall  love  thee  more  than  thy  mother  doth." 

ECCLESIASTES 

The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes,  which  contains  the  results, 
not  only  of  observation,  on  the  part  of  a  keen  observer, 
but  also  of  analysis  and  reflection  on  the  part  of  one 
who  was  anxious  to  derive  some  specific  lesson  from 
what  he  saw,  closes  with  the  words : — 

"  This  is  the  end  of  the  matter;  All  hath  been  heard:  Fear 
God,  and  keep  his  commandments;  for  this  is  the  whole  duty 
of  man.  For  God  will  bring  every  work  into  judgment,  with 
every  hidden  thing,  whether  it  be  good,  or  whether  it  be  evil." 
Ecclesiastes  12:13-14. 

The  author  is  utterly  unable  to  understand  the  reasons 
for  the  inequalities  he  observes  in  the  lots  of  men  as 
regards  possessions  or  happiness: — 

"I  returned,  and  saw  under  the  sun,  that  the  race  is  not 
to  the  swift,  nor  the  battle  to  the  strong,  neither  yet  bread 
to  the  wise,  nor  yet  riches  to  men  of  understanding,  nor  yet 
favor  to  men  of  skill;  but  time  and  chance  happeneth  to 
them  all."    Ecclesiastes  9:11. 

Ecclesiastes,  as  a  book,  differs  from  Proverbs  in 
having  a  literary  unity  resulting  from  the  fact  that 


THE   WISDOM    BOOKS  227 

there  Is  a  progress  of  thought  from  beginning  to  end. 
The  transitions  are  often  abrupt,  and  the  reasons 
not  always  clear,  but  the  thoughts  lead  to  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  last  verses.  The  author  of  Ecclesiastes 
tells  us  that  he  had  proposed  to  himself  the  question : — 

"What  profit  hath  man  of  all  his  labor  wherein  he  labor- 
eth  under  the  sun?"    Ecclesiastes  1:3. 

To  many  readers  "vanity"  seems  to  be  the  answer 
given  to  the  question  by  the  Preacher,  but  in  reality 
that  is  only  a  part  of  the  answer,  the  whole  of  which 
is  given  in  8:16-9:1,  which  may  be  called  the  turning 
point  of  the  book: — 

"When  I  applied  my  heart  to  know  wisdom,  and  to  see  the 
business  that  is  done  upon  the  earth  .  .  .  then  I  beheld  all 
the  work  of  God,  that  man  cannot  find  out  the  work  that  is 
done  under  the  sun:  because  however  much  a  man  labor  to 
seek  it  out,  yet  he  shall  not  find  it;  yea  moreover,  though  a 
wise  man  think  to  know  it,  yet  shall  he  not  be  able  to  find 
it.  For  all  this  I  laid  to  my  heart,  even  to  explore  all  this: 
that  the  righteous,  and  the  wise,  and  their  works,  are  in  the 
hand  of  God;  whether  it  be  love  or  hatred,  man  knoweth 
it  not;  all  is  before  them."    Ecclesiastes  8:16-9:1. 

This  world,  seen  only  as  the  natural  man  sees  it,  is 
an  inscrutable  mystery,  and  the  only  thing  that  makes 
life  worth  living  is  the  belief  that  God  is  beneficent  and 
that  the  result  may  safely  be  left  to  him: — 

"Go  thy  way,  eat  thy  bread  with  joy. 

And  drink  thy  wine  with  a  merry  heart; 

For  God  hath  already  accepted  thy  works. 

Let  thy  garments  be  always  white; 

And  let  not  thy  head  lack  oil."    Ecclesiastes  9:7-8. 


228  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"As  thou  knowest  not  what  is  the  way  of  the  wind, 
Nor  how  the  bones  do  grow  in  the  womb  of  her  that  is  with 
child; 

Even  so  thou  knowest  not  the  work  of  God 
Who  doeth  all."    Ecclesiastes  11:5. 

Thou  dost  not  understand  the  processes  and  opera- 
tions of  nature,  and  how  canst  thou  understand  God? 
is  the  substance  of  Jehovah's  speeches  to  Job  who,  like 
the  Preacher,  comes  to  the  conclusion: — 

"I  know  that  thou  canst  do  all  things, 
And  that  no  purpose  of  thine  can  be  restrained. 
Who  is  this  that  hideth  counsel  without  knowledge? 
Therefore  have  I  uttered  that  which  I  understood  not. 
Things  too  wonderful  for  me,  which  I  knew  not."    Job 
42:2-3. 

An  interesting  point  of  similarity  between  Job  and 
Ecclesiastes  is  that  in  each  there  is  at  first  the  assump- 
tion on  the  part  of  man  that  he  can  by  an  intellectual 
process  understand  God's  justice,  can  "by  searching 
find  out  God,"  and  then  the  conclusion,  as  the  result 
of  having  tried,  that  man  cannot  understand  God. 
This  seems  to  be  the  thought  in  Job  where  Zophar,  11: 
7,  maintains  that  the  wisdom  of  God  is  beyond  man's 
grasp,  against  Job's  opinion  that  man  can  understand 
God,  if  God  will  only  give  him  a  chance,  for  he  appeals 
directly  to  God,  31:35-37,  to  answer  him. 

A  notable  feature  of  Ecclesiastes  is  what  has  been 
called  the  scientific  method  adopted  by  the  author  to 
reach  his  conclusions.  He  does  not  simply  make  a  gen- 
eral statement  and  then  try  to  prove  it.  He  states  what 
he  believes  to  be  facts,  and  from  them,  by  induction, 
endeavors  to  derive  a  general  proposition.      Beginning 


THE    WISDOM    BOOKS  229 

With  some  general  statements  concerning  human  life, 
i:i-ii,  he  proceeds  to  tell  us  of  certain  experiments 
he  made  by  devoting  himself  to  the  pursuit  successively 
of  wisdom,  mirth,  wine,  houses  and  vineyards,  forests, 
great  possessions,  singers,  musicians,  whatsoever  the 
eyes  desired.  All  proved  to  be  "vanity  and  a  striving 
after  wind,"  2:26.  Having  failed  to  find  satisfaction 
in  his  experiments,  he  then  turned  to  observation  of 
nature,  and  of  men,  individually,  and  collectively. 
He  reached  some  conclusions,  which  he  states,  without 
however  being  able  to  solve  at  all  the  mystery  of  the 
inequalities  and  apparent  injustice,  which  he  observes 
among  men: — 

"Keep  thy  foot  when  thou  goest  to  the  house  of  God;  for 
to  draw  nigh  to  hear  is  better  than  to  give  the  sacrifice  of 
fools:  for  they  know  not  that  they  do  evil.  .  .  .  When  thou 
vowest  a  vow  unto  God,  defer  not  to  pay  it;  .  .  .  fear  thou 
God.  .  .  .  Every  man  also  to  whom  God  hath  given  riches 
and  wealth,  and  hath  given  him  power  to  eat  thereof,  and  to 
take  his  portion,  and  to  rejoice  in  his  labor — this  is  the  gift  of 
God."    Ecclesiastes  5:1,  4,  7,  19. 

Both  experiment  and  observation  have  convinced  the 
Preacher  that  man  cannot  understand  or  alter  the 
works  of  God,  so  the  only  thing  for  him  to  do  is  to  trust 
God,  as  a  power  higher  than  all,  to  do  what  is  right: — 

"Consider  the  work  of  God:  for  who  can  make  that 
straight,  which  he  hath  made  crooked  ?  In  the  day  of  pros- 
perity be  joyful,  and  in  the  day  of  adversity  consider;  yea, 
God  hath  made  the  one  side  by  side  with  the  other,  to  the 
end  that  man  should  not  find  out  anything  that  shall  be  after 
him."    Ecclesiastes  7:13-14. 

"Be  not  righteous  overmuch;  neither  make  thyself  over- 
wise:  why  shouldest  thou  destroy  thyself?  ...     It  is  good 


230  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

that  thou  shouldest  take  hold  of  this;  yea,*  also  from  that 
withdraw  not  thy  hand:  for  he  that  feareth  God  shall  come 
forth  from  them  all."    Ecclesiastes  7:16-18. 

The  conclusions  drawn  from  experiment  and  observa- 
tion are  stated,  beginning  with  8:16,  and  closing  with 
the  beautiful  allegory  in  chapter  12,  and  the  note  con- 
cerning the  effort  of  the  Preacher  to  teach  the  people 
wisdom.    The  voice  of  experience  cries  to  the  young: — 

^'Rejoice,  O  young  man,  in  thy  youth. 

And  let  thy  heart  cheer  thee  in  the  days  of  thy  youth. 

And  walk  in  the  ways  of  thy  heart, 

And  in  the  sight  of  thine  eyes; 

But  know  thou  that  for  all  these  things 

God  will  bring  thee  into  judgment."    Ecclesiastes  11:9. 

These  are  simply  the  words  of  wisdom,  gained  by 
experience  of  life,  addressed  to  the  youth.  There  is  a 
judgment  ahead  and,  when  that  time  comes,  the  in- 
equalities will  be  adjusted.  Until  that  time  they  are 
beyond  our  understanding,  but  we  must  never  cease  to 
believe  that  absolute  faith  in  the  justice  of  God  is  es- 
sential to  happiness. 


CHAPTER  XI 

THE  BOOK  OF  JOB 

Every  great  poet  has  given  expression  to  the  idea 
that  Hfe  is  a  progress  towards  an  ultimate  perfection, 
the  road  to  which,  for  the  race,  as  for  the  individual, 
lies  through  suffering,  and  struggle  against  opposing 
forces,  the  purpose  of  which  we  cannot  fully  under- 
stand, or,  with  our  limited  knowledge,  reconcile  with 
what  we  believe  to  be  the  justice  of  God. 

Much  theology  is  simply  the  effort  to  formulate  a 
system  of  belief  by  which  justice  may  be  made  consist- 
ent with  mercy,  and  the  imperfect  finite  be  made  ac- 
ceptable to  the  perfect  infinite.  That  God  is  just,  and 
that  he  makes  no  unreasonable  demand  upon  man  is 
an  idea  often  repeated  in  the  Bible.  In  Deuteronomy, 
we    read : — 

"And  now,  Israel,  what  doth  Jehovah  thy  God  require  of 
thee,  but  to  fear  Jehovah  thy  God,  to  walk  in  all  his  ways, 
and  to  love  him,  and  to  serve  Jehovah  thy  God  with  all 
thy  heart  and  with  all  thy  soul,  to  keep  the  commandments 
of  Jehovah,  and  his  statutes,  which  I  command  thee  this 
day  for  thy  good."    Deuteronomy  10:12-13. 

In  Micah,  a  book  older  than  Deuteronomy,  we  read 
similar  words:— 

"What  doth  Jehovah  require  of  thee,  but  to  do  justly, 
and  to  love  kindness,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God." 
Micah  6:8. 

231 


232  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Isaiah  said: — 

"Thus  saith  Jehovah,  Keep  ye  justice,  and  do  righteous- 
ness; for  my  salvation  is  near  to  come,  and  my  righteousness 
to  be  revealed."    Isaiah  56:1. 

Hosea  said: — 

**I  desire  goodness,  and  not  sacrifice;  and  the  knowledge  of 
God  more  than  bumt-ofFerings."    Hosea  6:6. 

Peter  said: — 

"Of  a  truth  I  perceive  that  God  is  no  respecter  of  persons: 
but  in  every  nation  he  that  feareth  him,  and  worketh  right- 
eousness, is  acceptable  to  him."    Acts  10:34-35. 

Paul  said: — 

"God  is  faithful,  who  will  not  suflFer  you  to  be  tempted 
above  that  ye  are  able;  but  will  with  the  temptation  make 
also  the  way  of  escape,  that  ye  may  be  able  to  endure  it." 
I  Corinthians  10:13. 

Jesus  said: — 

"Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind.  This  is  the  great 
and  first  commandment.  And  a  second  like  unto  it  is  this, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On  these  two 
commandments  the  whole  law  hangeth,  and  the  prophets." 
Matthew  22:37-40. 

The  prevailing  tone  of  the  Bible  is  that  of  hope  based 
on  a  belief  in  the  justice  and  mercy  of  God.  There  is 
no  sustained  note  of  despair  among  the  many  writers 
who  gave  us  the  Bible;  even  the  author  of  Ecclesiastes, 
after  his  apparent  pessimism,  says: — 


THE    BOOK    OF    JOB  233 

"1  hough  a  sinner  do  evil  a  hundred  times,  and  prolong  his 
daysy  yet  surely  I  know  that  it  shall  be  well  with  them  that 
fear  God,  that  fear  before  him:  but  it  shall  not  be  well  with 
the  wicked,  neither  shall  he  prolong  his  days,  which  are  as 
a  shadow;  because  he  feareth  not  before  God."  Ecclesiastes 
8:12-13. 

Asaph,  after  his  periods  of  despondence,  rises  with 
the  joyful  assurance: — 

"My  flesh  and  my  heart  faileth; 

But  God  is  the  strength  of  my  heart  and  my  portion  for- 
ever."   Psalm  73 :26. 

and: — 

"O  God,  why  has  thou  cast  us  off  forever?"  .  .  . 
"Yet  God  is  my  King  of  old,  Working  salvation  in  the 
midst  of  the  earth."    Psalm  74:1,  12. 

The  Korahite  sings: — 

"Why  art  thou  cast  down,  O  my  soul? 
And  why  art  thou  disquieted  within  me? 
Hope  thou  in  God;  for  I  shall  yet  praise  him 
For  the  help  of  his  countenance."    Psalm  42:5. 

David    says : — 

"How  long,  O  Jehovah?     Wilt  thou  forget  me  forever? 
How  long  wilt  thou  hide  thy  face  from  me  ?  .  .  . 
"But  I  have  trusted  in  thy  loving  kindness;  My  heart 
shall  rejoice  in  thy  salvation."    Psalm  13:1,  5. 

The  familiar  Bible  stories  almost  invariably  have 
happy  endings.  Ishmael  is  delivered,  after  his  mother 
Hagar  had  withdrawn  that  she  might  not  see  him  die. 
Isaac  is  saved  at  the  last  moment.     Elijah,  in  spite  of 


234  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

plots  against  him,  lives  to  be  taken  up  in  a  chariot. 
Joseph,  to  the  surprise  of  his  wicked  brethren,  does  not 
die,  but  lives  and  becomes  an  influential  man  in  Egypt. 
Hezekiah  was  saved  from  the  army  of  Sennacherib  by  a 
miracle.  David  slew  Goliath.  The  same  cheerfulness 
characterizes  the  New  Testament.  No  matter  how  dark 
the  way,  there  is  always  a  light  at  the  end  of  it.  No 
matter  how  terrible  the  trials,  they  work  for  ultimate 
good.    Paul  said: — 

"...  we  also  rejoice  in  our  tribulations:  knowing  that 
tribulation  worketh  stedfastness;  and  stedfastness,  approved- 
ness;  and  approvedness,  hope:  and  hope  putteth  not  to  shame; 
because  the  love  of  God  hath  been  shed  abroad  in  our  hearts 
through  the  Holy  Spirit  which  was  given  unto  us."    Romans 

With  all  these  expressions  of  faith,  as  we  find  them  in 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  on  the  part  of  men 
who  coupled  them  with  a  definite  recognition  of  the 
difficulties  by  which  faith  is  usually  confronted,  we 
find  also  a  number  of  passages  in  which  the  difficulties 
are  presented  in  such  a  way  as  to  challenge  the  answer 
of  faith,  and  demand  an  explanation.  The  Book  of  Job 
is  not  the  only  place  in  the  Bible  in  which  the  problem 
of  the  sufferings  of  the  righteous  man,  and  the  apparent 
happiness  of  the  wicked,  is  discussed.  It  is  a  perennial 
problem,  which  continually  reappears  in  literature  be- 
cause it  continually  reappears  in  life.  If  God  is  good 
and  just,  why  do  the  righteous  have  to  suffer.?  The 
idea  that  suffering  is  a  punishment  for  sin  is  generally 
accepted,  but  there  is  much  suffering  that  does  not 
appear  to  be  the  result  of  sin  on  the  part  of  the  sufferer. 
Why  then  does  it  exist.'' 

The  Greek  story  of  Prometheus  has  many  analogies 


THE    BOOK   OF   JOB  235 

to  that  of  Job,  and  in  Babylonian  literature  has  been 
found  a  story  of  a  man  very  much  like  Job,  who  was 
made  by  a  god  to  endure  great  sufferings.^  The  dis- 
obedience of  Adam  and  Eve  resulted  in  expulsion 
from  the  garden  and  the  sentence  that  they  must  labor 
for  their  bread.  Genesis,  ch.  3.  The  sin  of  Cain  brought 
upon  him  the  curse.  Genesis  4:10-11.  Joseph's  breth- 
ren at  once  associated  the  threat  to  kill  them  with  the 
sin  they  had  committed,  Genesis  42:21.  Examples  of 
retributive  justice  are  numerous  in  the  Old  Testament 
and  the  New,  but  there  keeps  recurring  the  question — 
Why  do  the  righteous  have  to  suffer.^  The  problem  of 
justice  was  propounded  on  several  occasions  to  Jesus, 
not  only  by  those  who  sought  to  discredit  him,  but  also 
by  his  disciples.    They  ask  concerning  the  blind  man: — 

"Rabbi,  who  sinned,  this  man,  or  his  parents,  that  he 
should  be  bom  blind?"    John  9:2. 

In  Luke  13:2-4,  the  disciples  are  told  that  the  Gali- 
leans who  had  been  slain  by  Pilate,  and  the  eighteen 
upon  whom  the  tower  in  Siloam  fell,  were  not  sinners 
above  others,  and  that  the  woman,  ill  for  eighteen 
years,  whom  he  healed  on  the  sabbath,  to  the  great 
indignation  of  the  ruler  of  the  synagogue,  had  been 
bound  by  Satan,  and  not,  apparently,  as  a  result  of  any 
sin.  In  these  cases,  as  in  that  of  the  rich  man  and  the 
beggar,  Luke,  16,  and  the  laborers  in  the  vineyard,  Mat- 
thew 20,  the  apparent  inequality  of  God's  dealings  with 
men  is  the  subject  of  questionings. 

The  parable  of  the  Prodigal  Son  introduces  the  love 

*  A  translation  of  the  Babylonian  story  is  given  in  Archaeology  and  the 
Bihley  by  G.  A.  Barton,  p.  392.  An  account  of  it  with  a  translation  is  given 
in  "A  Babylonian  Parallel  to  the  Story  of  Job,"  by  M.  Jastrow,  in  the 
Journal  of  Biblical  Literature^  vol.  25,  pp.  135-191. 


236  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  the  father  as  more  powerful  than  any  other  consid- 
eration. It  is  Hosea,  in  the  Old  Testament,  who  makes 
the  love  of  God  for  his  children  the  most  important 
fact  in  his  relations  to  them,  and  it  is  this  idea,  not 
found  expressed  in  any  such  way  in  the  earlier  concep- 
tions of  religion,  that  makes  Hosea,  perhaps,  of  all  the 
Old  Testament  teachers,  the  one  whose  words  approach 
most  nearly  to  the  spirit  of  the  New.  Hosea  makes 
Jehovah    say: — 

"When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him,  and  called 
my  son  out  of  Egypt."    Hosea  11  :i. 

"I  drew  them  with  the  cords  of  a  man,  with  bands  of  love." 
Hosea  11:4. 

"I  will  heal  their  backsliding,  I  will  love  them  freely." 
Hosea  14:4. 

To  this  question  concerning  inequalities,  however 
and  wherever  propounded,  the  only  answer  given  is 
that  God  is  sovereign: — 

"Is  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine 
own?  ...  So  the  last  shall  be  first,  and  the  first  last." 
Matthew  20:15-16. 

Jeremiah  recognizes  the  problem  presented  by  the 
righteousness  of  God  and  the  inequalities  among  men: — 

"Righteous  art  thou,  O  Jehovah,  when  I  contend  with 
thee;  yet  would  I  reason  the  cause  with  thee:  wherefore 
doth  the  way  of  the  wicked  prosper?  wherefore  are  all  they 
at  ease  that  deal  very  treacherously?"    Jeremiah  12:1. 

Jeremiah  31:29,  and  Ezekiel  18:2,  both  quote  the 
proverb : — 


THE    BOOK   OF   JOB  237 

"The  fathers  have  eaten  sour  grapes, 
And  the  children's  teeth  are  set  on  edge.*' 

It  is  a  matter  of  interest  to;iote  that  the  verses,  which 
immediately  follow,  in  Ezekiel,  expressly  repudiate  the 
doctrine  that  children  should  suffer  for  the  sins  of  their 
parents : — 

"As  I  live,  saith  the  Lord  Jehovah,  ye  shall  not  have 
occasion  any  more  to  use  this  proverb  in  Israel.  Behold, 
all  souls  are  mine;  as  the  soul  of  the  father,  so  also  the  soul 
of  the  son  is  mine:  the  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die." 

"The  soul  that  sinneth,  it  shall  die:  the  son  shall  not  bear 
the  iniquity  of  the  father,  neither  shall  the  father  bear  the 
iniquity  of  the  son;  the  righteousness  of  the  righteous  shall 
be  upon  him,  and  the  wickedness  of  the  wicked  shall  be  upon 
him."    Ezekiel  18:3,  4,  20. 

Habakkuk  also  raises  the  same  question  concerning 
the  justice  of  God: — 

"Thou  that  art  of  purer  eyes  than  to  behold  evil,  and  that 
canst  not  look  on  perverseness,  wherefore  lookest  thou  upon 
them  that  deal  treacherously,  and  boldest  thy  peace  when 
the  wicked  swalloweth  up  the  man  that  is  more  righteous 
than  he?"    Habakkuk  1:13. 

The  prosperity  of  the  wicked  is  often  referred  to, 
and  the  only  consoling  thought  in  connection  with  it  is 
that  it  cannot  last  long.  The  righteous  man  may  suffer, 
but  will  finally  triumph.  That  was  the  only  conclu- 
sion consistent  with  the  conception  of  a  just  God,  and 
ultimate  happiness,  in  spite  of  present  suffering,  is  the 
teaching  of  the  Beatitudes,  Matthew,  ch.  5. 

The  Book  of  Job  is  the  greatest  example  of  wisdom 
literature,  but  while  dramatic,  and  in  the  form  of  a 


238  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

series  of  speeches  and  replies  to  them,  it  is  not  in  its 
present  form  sl  drama  in  any  strict  sense.  Dialogue  is 
more  frequent  in  Biblical  poetry  than  our  versions  indi- 
cate, and  this  feature  of  Job  seems  to  us  therefore  more 
unusual  than  it  is.  Job  and  the  Song  of  Solomon  are 
presented  to  us  in  dialogue  that  is  really  dramatic  in 
character.  The  idea  of  a  recent  Syrian  writer,^  that  the 
author  of  Job  conceived  of  the  book  as  an  account  of  a 
poetical  contest,  such  as  is  common  in  Syria,  may  per- 
haps be  correct,  so  far  as  the  form  is  concerned.  A 
thesis,  defended  in  a  recent  book,^  is  that  Job  was 
originally  a  Greek  tragedy  in  the  manner  of  Euripides, 
written  under  Greek  influence,  at  a  much  later  date 
than  has  usually  been  assigned  to  it. 

The  form  in  which  Job  now  appears  is,  in  the  opinion 
of  scholars,  due  to  the  editing  of  an  older  original  book. 
The  version  preserved  in  Coptic  is  shorter  than  the 
Hebrew  and  represents  perhaps  the  Septuagint  in  its 

*  A.  T.  Baroody,  Our  Man  of  Patience,  Boston,  1915,  p.  41. 

'  The  Book  of  Job  as  a  Greek  Tragedy,  restored,  with  an  introductory  Essay 
on  the  Original  Form  and  Philosophic  Meaning  of  Job,  by  Horace  Meyer 
Kallen,  and  an  introduction  by  Professor  George  Foot  Moore,  of  Harvard 
University,  New  York,  19 18. 

As  Professor  Moore  says  in  his  Introduction: — "The  most  striking  feature 
of  his  [Dr.  Kallen's]  reconstruction  is  that  it  provides  a  reason  for  being  and 
a  suitable  place  for  parts  of  the  book  which  recent  critics  have  commonly 
set  aside  as  additions  or  interpolations,  on  the  ground  that  they  interrupt 
or  suspend  the  movement  of  the  poem,  or  are  incongruous  with  the  tenor 
of  the  whole  or  the  person  of  the  speaker,  or  seem  to  be  merely  purple 
patches."  The  poem  on  Wisdom,,  chapter  28,  the  lines  on  the  oppressor 
and  the  oppressed,  chapter  24,  the  poems  on  Behemoth  and  Leviathan  in 
chapters  40  and  41  are  thought  by  Dr.  Kallen  to  be  choral  odes,  which  be- 
long respectively,  not  in  their  present  places,  but  after  each  of  the  three 
series  ofspeeches,  chapter  28  following  chapter  14;  chapter  24:2-24  belonging 
after  chapter  21;  chapters  40:15  to  41:26  after  chapter  31.  EHhu  is  made 
the  coryphaeus,  which  explains  nis  being  omitted  from  the  list  of  speakers, 
the  introduction  of  his  speeches,  chapters  12-37,  being  the  necessary  in- 
terruption or  suspension  between  Job's  challenge,  31:35,  and  the  voice  of 
Jehovah,  th«  deus  ex  machina  in  38:1.  The  preface  andf  conclusion  or  pro- 
logue and  epilogue  are  in  keeping  with  the  plan  of  tragedy  as  written  by 
Euripides. 


THE    BOOK   OF   JOB  239 

original  text.  The  prose  prologue,  chs.  i  and  2,  and 
epilogue,  42:7-17,  and  the  intervention  of  Elihu,  who 
is  not  mentioned  elsewhere,  chs.  32-37,  are  regarded  as 
of  different  authorship  from  the  poem.  Some  now 
think  that  there  was  an  older  People's  Book  of  Job 
of  which  the  prologue  and  epilogue  of  the  existing  book 
were  portions,  and  that  the  dramatic  poem  has  replaced 
a  lost  central  part  of  the  older  version.  Many  differ- 
ences between  the  prose  and  the  dialogue  portions 
confirm  the  opinions  concerning  different  authorship, 
Satan  appearing  only  in  the  prologue,  and  the  patient 
Job  of  the  prologue,  being  in  contrast  to  the  impatient 
Job  of  the  poem.  The  intervention  of  Elihu  was  also 
perhaps  not  a  part  of  the  original  poem,  but  a  later 
addition.  It  will  be  observed  that  no  one  takes  any 
notice  of  Elihu's  speeches,  and  that  in  ch.  38  Jehovah  an- 
swers Job,  who  had  ceased  speaking  at  the  close  of  ch.  31, 
"The  words  of  Job  are  ended,"  after  he  had  challenged 
the  Almighty  to  answer  him.  Some  scholars  regard 
the  speeches  of  Elihu  as  a  criticism  of  the  book, 
rather  than  of  Job  himself.  The  poem  on  Wisdom, 
ch.  28,  complete  in  itself,  and  having  no  necessary  con- 
nection with  the  speech  in  which  it  occurs,  may  be  an 
insertion,  as  may  also  be  the  poems  on  Behemoth,  40:15- 
24,  and  Leviathan,  ch.  41,  for  they  too  seem  complete 
in  themselves,  and  are  not  essential  in  the  thought  to 
the  speech  of  Jehovah  to  Job,  40:6-14,  to  which  Job 
replies,  42:1-6.  It  is  probable  that  there  has  been  some 
dislocation  of  the  text  in  the  third  series  of  speeches, 
as  there  appears  to  be  no  third  speech  for  Zophar.  As 
a  discussion  of  this  would  take  us  beyond  the  purposes 
of  the  present  volume,  suffice  it  to  say  that  there  is 
reason  to  suppose  that  originally  there  were  three  com- 
plete cycles  of  speeches,  and  therefore  a  suggestion. 


240  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

made  in  1776  by  Kennlcott,  that  27:13-23  really  be- 
longs to  Zophar,  may  be  mentioned  here,  though, 
owing  to  the  thoughts  expressed,  it  would  prob- 
ably be  necessary  to  make  also  other  rearrangements. 
Chapter  28  may  likewise  be  a  part  of  Zophar's  third 
speech.^ 

Job  is  referred  to  by  Ezekiel,  14:14,  16,  18,  20,  with 
Noah  and  Daniel,  as  an  historic  person,  and  by  James, 
5:11,  as  a  person  of  extraordinary  virtues,  whose  his- 
tory was  well  known.  We  are  not  concerned  here  with 
the  question  whether  the  Book  of  Job  is  a  record  of 
actual  experiences,  or  is  purely  a  work  of  the  imagina- 
tion, based  on  the  character  of  a  man  who  really  lived 
and  suffered.  As  literature  it  might  be  either,  but  the 
profound  philosophy  and  noble  poetry  of  the  author, 
and  his  knowledge  of  the  deep  problems  of  human  life, 
make  the  Book  of  Job,  both  in  its  conception  as  a  work 
of  literary  art,  and  in  its  subject-matter,  the  greatest  and 
the  most  daring  that  has  come  to  us  from  the  remote 
past.  No  other  portion  of  the  Old  Testament,  except 
the  latter  part  of  Isaiah,  chs.  40-66,  "Second  Isaiah," 
is  comparable  to  Job  as  a  lengthy  treatment  of  a  single 
subject.^ 

*  See  S.  R.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old  Testament^ 
p.  423.  "...  more  recent  critics  have  supposed  the  text  to  be  disarranged, 
suggesting,  for  instance,  as  the  original  order  (Bildad)  c.  25,  26:5-14;  (Job) 
26:1-4,  27:  2-6-n  (followed  originally  by  a  description  of  the  misgovern, 
ment  of  God,  like  those  in  cc.  21,  24)  12;  (Zophar)  27:7-10,  13-23;  (Job 
c.  28  (cf.  Cheyne,  Job  and  Sol.y  pp.  38,  114,  Enc.  Bibl.  ii  2478;  Duhm; 
Peake)."  See  also  Job,"  The  Bible  for  Home  and  SchooU  ed.  G.  A.  Barton, 
Introduction. 

*  "The  relation  of  the  drama  [Job]  to  the  wonderful  series  of  lyric  poems 
inserted  in  the  Second  Isaiah,  and  especially  to  ch.  53,  is  a  point  of  great 
interest.  While  suffering  innocence  is  in  both  cases  the  central  theme,  the 
one  poet  is  concerned  with  its  national  significance,  the  other  with  its  per- 
sonal; and,  as  the  nation's  interests  were  historically  recognized  before  those 
of  the  individual,  it  is  probable  that  the  author  of  Job  was  the  later  of  the 
two  writers.     He  evidently  knew  the  work  of  his  predecessor  (compare 


THE    BOOK    OF    JOB  24I 

With  these  prefatory  notes  we  proceed  to  examine 
Job  as  to  its  literary  structure.  There  are  two  dis- 
tinct parts  to  the  book,  one  is  the  prose  story,  told  in 
the  preface  and  conclusion;  the  other  is  the  dramatic 
poem,  which  makes  no  reference  to  the  prose  story. 

The  Scenes,  in  Order 

Scene  i.  Home  of  Job  in  the  Land  of  Uz.  ' 

Scene  2.  Heaven,  Jehovah  receiving  the  sons  of  God,  and 
Satan. 

Scene  3.  Home  of  Job. 

Scene  4.  Heaven,  Jehovah  again  holding  a  conference 
with  the  sons  of  God,  and  Satan. 

Scene  5.  Home  of  Job,  changing  to  the  refuse  heap  near 
the  house. 

Scene  6.  Home  of  Job. 

Scene  5  is  that  of  the  dramatic  poem.  The  other 
scenes  are  of  the  story  told  in  the  prose  preface  and 
conclusion.      The   book   comprises    these    divisions: — 

1.  The  Scenes  on  Earth  and  in  Heaven  telling  of  the 

prosperity  of  Job,  and  his  trials  and  sufferings 
as  a  result  of  the  words  and  work  of  Satan,  per- 
mitted by  Jehovah. 

2.  Three  cycles  of  speeches  by  Job  and  his  three  friends, 

Eliphaz,  Bildad  and  Zophar. 

3.  The  Speeches  of  Elihu. 

4.  The  Speeches  of  Jehovah,  and  Job's  replies. 

5.  Jehovah's  punishment  of  the  three  friends,  and  res- 

toration of  Job  to  health  and  wealth. 

Job  16:17  with  Is.  53:9),  and  may  well  have  believed  that  Israel  was  vica- 
riously suffering  for  the  nations;  but  he  does  not  apply  this  luminous  con- 
ception to  the  trials  of  Job,  in  which  the  element  of  atoning  sacrifice  does  not 
lie  on  the  surface."    James  Strahan,  The  Book  of  Joby  Edinburgh,  1914,  p.  19. 


242  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Persons  in  the  Prose  Preface  and  Conclusion 

1.  Job. 

2.  Jehovah. 

3.  Sons  of  God  (mute). 

4.  Satan. 

5.  Sons  and  daughters  (mentioned). 

6.  Four  messengers. 

7.  Job's  wife. 

8.  Acquaintances  and  relatives  (mute). 

9.  Eliphaz,  the  Temanite. 

10.  Bildad,  the  Shuhite. 

11.  Zophar,  the  Naamathite. 

Persons  in  the  Dramatic  Poem 

1.  Job. 

2.  EHphaz  the  Temanite. 

3.  Bildad  the  Shuhite. 

4.  Zophar  the  Naamathite. 

5.  Elihu  the  Buzite,  a  young  man. 

6.  Bystanders  (mute). 

7.  Jehovah,  speaking  out  of  the  whirlwind. 

The  prose  preface  and  conclusion  are  necessary  in 
order  that  we  may  understand  the  situation  presented 
in  the  poem  itself.  The  councils  in  heaven,  as  described, 
are  conceived  of  in  the  same  way  as  that  of  I  Kings  22 : 
19-22: — 

"And  Micaiah  said,  Therefore  hear  thou  the  word  of 
Jehovah:  I  saw  Jehovah  sitting  on  his  throne,  and  all  the 
host  of  heaven  standing  by  him  on  his  right  hand  and  on  his 
left.  And  Jehovah  said  who  shall  entice  Ahab,  that  he  may 
go  up  and  fall  at  Ramoth-Gilead?  And  one  said  on  this 
manner;  and  another  said  on  that  manner.  And  there  came 
forth  a  spirit  and  stood  before  Jehovah,  and  said,  I  will 


THE    BOOK   OF   JOB  243 

entice  him.  And  Jehovah  said  unto  him,  Wherewith  ?  And 
he  said,  I  will  go  forth,  and  will  be  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouth 
of  all  his  prophets.  And  he  said.  Thou  shalt  entice  him,  and 
shalt  prevail  also:  go  forth  and  do  so.  Now  ....  Jeho- 
vah hath  put  a  lying  spirit  in  the  mouth  of  all  these  thy 
prophets." 

In  Zechariah  3:1,  Joshua,  Satan  the  adversary,  and 
the  Angel  of  Jehovah,  appear  in  a  scene  in  which  Satan 
is  rebuked.  Satan  is  spoken  of  in  I  Chronicles  21:1, 
as  moving  David  to  number  Israel,  a  deed  which,  in 
the  parallel  passage  in  II  Samuel  24:1,  is  attributed  to 
Jehovah.  Similarly,  in  the  preface,  it  is  Satan  who 
afflicts  Job,  and  in  the  poem.  Job  attributes  his  suffer- 
ings to  Jehovah,  making  no  mention  of  Satan.  The 
"sons  of  God"  are  mentioned,  38:7. 

In  the  Apocryphal  books  of  Enoch,  are  to  be  found 
accounts  of  the  angels  and  the  satans,  of  whom,  one 
was  the  Satan,  or  adversary.  The  reference  in  Jude, 
V.  6,  and  II  Peter  2:4  to  the  war  in  heaven,  and  the  story, 
Genesis  6:2,  of  the  "sons  of  God,"  taking  wives,  are 
likewise  parts  of  stories  which  doubtless  were  well- 
known  in  the  Orient.  They  are  to  be  found,  derived 
probably  from  much  earlier  sources,  in  Enoch,  which 
contains  also  an  account  of  Leviathan  and  Behemoth.^ 

Job  and  his  friends  of  course  know  nothing  of  the 
scenes  in  heaven,  and  therefore  of  the  reason  for  the 
suiferings.    The  prologue  makes  these  simply  the  means 

1  See  The  Book  of  Enoch,  ed.  by  R.  H.  Charles,  and  The  Secrets  of  Endch, 
translated  from  the  Slavonic  by  W.  R.  Morfill,  and  edited  by  R.  H.  Charles. 
Dr.  Charles  says:  "The  Book  of  Enoch  is  for  the  history  of  theological 
development  the  most  important  pseudepigraph  of  the  first  two  centuries 
B.  c.  Some  of  its  authors — and  there  were  many — belonged  to  the  true 
succession  of  the  prophets,  and  it  was  simply  owing  to  the  evil  character  of 
the  period,  in  which  their  lot  was  cast,  that  these  enthusiasts  and  mystics, 
exhibiting  on  occasions  the  inspiration  of  the  O.  T.  prophets,  were  obliged 
to  issue  their  works  under  the  aegis  of  some  ancient  name."  The  Book  of 
Enocht  Introduction,  p.  x. 


244  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

by  which  Satan  tests  the  goodness  of  Job,  after  having 
asserted  that  Job  did  hot  serve  God  disinterestedly. 

Our  conception  of  Job  as  a  proverbially  patient  man 
comes  wholly  from  the  prologue,  and  from  the  mention 
of  him  by  James,  5:11,  "Ye  have  heard  of  the  patience 
of  Job,"  and  not  from  the  poem,  in  which  Job  is  not 
only  not  patient,  but  is  in  open  rebellion  against  God 
for  permitting  and  causing  him  to  suffer: — 

"I  loathe  my  life;  I  would  not  live  alway:" 

**If  I  have  sinned,  what  do  I  unto  thee,  O  thou  watcher  of 
men? 

Why  hast  thou  set  me  as  a  mark  for  thee 

So  that  I  am  a  burden  to  myself?"    Job  7:16,  20. 

"I  cry  unto  thee,  and  thou  dost  not  answer  me: 

I  stand  up,  and  thou  gazest  at  me. 

Thou  art  turned  to  be  cruel  to  me; 

With  the  might  of  thy  hand  thou  persecutest  me."  Job 
30:20-21. 

"O  that  I  had  one  to  hear  me! 

(Lo  here  is  my  signature,  let  the  Almighty  answer  me) 

And  that  I  had  the  indictment  which  mine  adversary  hath 
written!"    Job  31:35. 

Jehovah  says  to  Job: — 

"Shall  he  that  cavilleth  contend  with  the  Almighty? 
He  that  argueth  with  God,  let  him  answer  it."    Job  40:2. 

Job  is  firm  in  his  belief  that  God  is  also  kindly  dis- 
posed to  men  and  that  all  blessings  come  from  him: — 

"Thou  hast  granted  me  life  and  loving  kindness; 

And  thy  visitation  hath  preserved  my  spirit."    Job  10:12. 

The  poem  on  Wisdom,  ch.  28,  is  similar  in  many 
respects  to  that  in  Proverbs  8  and  9,  containing  the 


THE    BOOK   OF    JOB  245 

same  fundamental  ideas  expressed  in  almost  the  same 
words.    Job  says: — 

**It  cannot  be  gotten  for  gold, 

Neither  shall  silver  be  weighed  for  the  price  thereof."  ... 
**No  mention  shall  be  made  of  coral  or  of  crystal: 
Yea,  the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies."  .  .  . 
"When  he  made  a  decree  for  the  rain. 
And  a  way  for  the  lightning  of  the  thunder; 
Then  did  he  see  it,  and  declare  it; 
He  estabhshed  it,  yea,  and  searched  it  out. 
And  unto  man  he  said. 

Behold  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  that  is  wisdom; 
And  to  depart  from  evil  is  understanding."    Job  28:15,  i^, 
26,  27,  28. 

Proverbs  says: — 

"Receive  my  instruction,  and  not  silver; 

And  knowledge  rather  than  choice  gold. 

For  wisdom  is  better  than  rubies; 

And  all  the  things  that  may  be  desired  are  not  to  be  com- 
pared unto  it."  .  .  . 

"Jehovah  possessed  me  in  the  beginning  of  his  way. 

Before  his  works  of  old."  .  .  .  "When  there  were  no 
depths,  I  was  brought  forth. 

When  there  were  no  fountains  abounding  with  water." 
Proverbs  8:10,  11,  22,  24. 

"The  fear  of  Jehovah  is  the  beginning  of  wisdom; 

And  the  knowledge  of  the  Holy  One  is  understanding." 
Proverbs  9:10. 

Ecclesiasticus,  ch.  24,  is  another  wisdom  poem,  with 
which  these  may  be  compared. 

There  are  many  interesting  facts  to  be  noted  con- 
cerning Job  that  bring  the  book  into  contrast  with 
other  books  of  the  Old  Testament.    Job  was  a  monoga- 


246  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

mist.  The  Jehovah  of  the  book  is  the  God  of  the  uni- 
verse, who  has  no  favorite  nation,  but  who  deals  with 
mankind.  Job  has,  in  the  poem,  no  idea  of  God  as 
requiring  the  offering  of  sacrifices,  or  as  being  wor- 
shipped in  only  one  particular  place,  though  in  the 
prologue  he  offers  sacrifice,  1:5,  and  in  the  epilogue 
the  friends  do,  42:8.  Job  and  his  friends  were  not  nec- 
essarily Hebrews,  although  there  are  some  passages 
which  indicate  a  knowledge  of  the  law,  as  22:6,  and  24:9, 
which  may  refer  to  the  pledges  of  Exodus  22:26  and 
Deuteronomy  24:17;  and  31:9-11,  26-28,  which  may 
refer  to  the  procedure  against  adulterers,  or  those  who 
worship  the  sun  and  moon,  as  given  in  Deuteronomy 
22:22,  4:19,  17:3-7.  The  author  of  Job  was  familiar 
with  the  life  of  cities,  as  allusions  show.  He  knew  also 
the  papyrus  boats  on  the  Nile,  "the  ships  of  reed," 
9:26,  which  Isaiah  18:2,  also  mentions.  He  knew  "the 
caravans  of  Tema"  and  "the  companies  of  Sheba," 
6:19. 

The  speakers  in  the  poem  are: — 

1.  Job,  the  perfect  man,  whose  character  and  position  are 
indicated,  in  the  prologue,  and  by  his  declarations  concerning 
himself  in  chapters  29-31. 

2.  Eliphaz,  the  Temanite,  the  oldest  of  the  friends,  gentle 
and  dignified. 

3.  Bildad,  the  Shuhite,  a  good  man,  deeply  concerned  for 
Job. 

4.  Zophar,  the  Naamathite,  impetuous  and  not  very  con- 
siderate of  the  feelings  of  Job. 

5.  Elihu,  the  Buzite,  a  self-sufficient  young  man. 

6.  Jehovah. 

The  friends,  holding  the  orthodox  view  that  suffer- 
ing is  the  direct  result  of  sin,  and  that  Job  is  being 


THE    BOOK    OF    JOB  247 

punished  for  something  he  had  done  that  he  would 
not  confess,  direct  their  arguments,  not  only  against 
what  Job  says,  but  also  against  what  they  think  to  be 
Job's  real  position  towards  God.  To  the  arguments  of 
his  three  old  friends  Job  makes  reply,  but  to  the  speeches 
of  Elihu  no  reply  is  made  by  either  Job  or  his  friends, 
although  they  are  directly  addressed.  Job's  reply  to 
his  wife  "Thou  speakest  as  one  of  the  foolish  women 
speaketh, "  2:10,  and  his  reply,  12:2-4,  ^^  Zophar,  who 
had  hurt  him  11:6,  with  the  words  "God  exacteth 
of  thee  less  than  thine  iniquity  deserveth,"  are  very 
human,  and  the  humanity  of  Job  and  his  friends,  even 
in  the  most  exalted  passages  is  noteworthy. 

After  we  have  been  put  into  possession  of  the  facts 
necessary  to  an  understanding  of  the  situation,  includ- 
ing the  advice  given  to  Job  by  his  wife,  who,  of  all  his 
immediate  family,  is  the  only  one  left  to  him,  we  see 
Job,  seated  among  the  ashes,  and  his  three  friends, 
each  of  whom  had  come  from  a  distance  to  be  with  him, 
seated  near  him  with  rent  garments  and  dust  on  their 
heads,  in  token  of  sympathy.  Job's  troubles  were  of 
two  kinds,  first,  the  loss  of  his  children,  wealth,  and 
power,  resulting  in  a  change  in  his  relations  to  men; 
second,  his  physical  afflictions,  which  caused  him  great 
suifering.  In  words  of  transcendent  tenderness  he 
describes  his  bereavement: — 

"Oh  that  I  were  as  in  the  months  of  old, 
.  As  in  the  days  when  God  watched  over  me; 
When  his  lamp  shined  upon  my  head, 
And  by  his  light  I  walked  through  darkness; 
As  I  was  in  the  ripeness  of  my  days, 
When  the  friendship  of  God  was  upon  my  tent; 
When  the  Almighty  was  yet  with  me, 
And  my  children  were  about  me; 


248  A    BOOK   ABOUT    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

When  my  steps  were  washed  with  butter, 

And  the  rock  poured  me  out  streams  of  oil!**    Job  29:2-6. 

This  picture  of  Job  must  be  kept  in  mind,  as  well 
as  that  of  his  phj^sical  torments,  as  presented  in  such 
verses  as  these: — 

"So  am  I  made  to  possess  months  of  misery. 
And  wearisome  nights  are  appointed  to  me. 
When  I  He  down,  I  say, 
When  shall  I  arise,  and  the  night  be  gone? 
And  I  am  full  of  tossings  to  and  fro  unto  the  dawning  of 
the  day. 

My  flesh  is  clothed  with  worms  and  clods  of  dust; 

My  skin  closeth  up,  and  breaketh  out  afresh.'*    Job  7:3-5. 

The  perfection  of  Job's  character,  as  represented  in 
the  opening  chapter  of  the  book,  and  the  completeness 
of  his  afflictions,  confront  us  with  the  question  which 
the  author  of  the  book  desires  to  discuss.  How  would 
an  absolutely  perfect  man,  possessed  of  all  that  the 
world  can  give,  behave,  if  suddenly  called  upon,  for  no 
apparent  reason,  to  endure  the  loss  of  all  that  contri- 
butes to  human  happiness.  We  have  no  abstract  prob- 
lem in  Job,  to  be  treated  as  mere  theory.  The  advice 
of  his  wife  and  the  distrust  of  him,  shown  by  his  friends, 
complete  the  sum  of  what  this  great-souled  man  is 
called  upon  to  endure.  His  greatest  troubles  are  men- 
tal and  spiritual,  not  physical.  Under  the  circum- 
stances, as  we  are  told  them,  the  attack  on  Job's  integ- 
rity made  by  his  wife,  and  by  his  old  friends,  was  per- 
haps harder  for  him  to  bear  than  his  losses,  and  his 
physical  pains,  for  he  cries  out,  in  his  anguish  of  soul: — 

"He  hath  put  my  brethren  far  from  me. 

And  mine  acquaintance  are  wholly  estranged  from  me. 


THE    BOOK   OF    JOB  ,  249 

My  kinsfolk  have  failed, 

And  my  familiar  friends  have  forgotten  me. 

They  that  dwell  in  my  house,  and  my  maids,  count  me 
for  a  stranger: 

I  am  an  alien  in  their  sight. 

I  call  unto  my  servant,  and  he  giveth  me  no  answer, 

Though  I  entreat  him  with  my  mouth. 

My  breath  is  strange  to  my  wife. 

And  my  supplication  to  the  children  of  mine  own  mother." 
Job  19:13-17. 

In  the  epilogue,  42:11,  these  brethren  and  sisters 
and  acquaintances  return  to  Job  as  soon  as  he  is  again 
wealthy.  They  are  even  willing  to  give  him  money, 
when  they  know  he  does  not  need  it.  Truly  the  author 
of  Job  understood  human  nature  and,  apparently  inci- 
dentally, but  perhaps  as  a  part  of  his  plan  in  writing 
the  book  depicted  the  essential  sin  of  selfishness  in  the 
inability  of  the  friends  to  understand  Job,  because  of  the 
narrowness  of  their  own  views,  and  in  the  indifference 
and  even  contempt  of  his  kinsfolk  and  acquaintances, 
when  he  could  no  longer  be  useful  to  them. 

The  morality,  and  spiritual  dignity  of  the  man,  who, 
before  Jehovah,  made,  concerning  his  conduct  in  life, 
the  declarations  of  ch.  31,  after  having  described  his 
former  greatness,  ch.  29,  and  present  miserable  condi- 
tion, ch.  30,  cause  him  to  stand  out  in  contrast  to  his 
friends  and  acquaintances,  like  a  lofty  mountain  rising 
above  the  inequalities  of  the  plain. 

After  a  silence  of  seven  days  and  nights  Job  speaks. 
His  words  are  not  the  impatient  utterance  of  one 
who  has  suddenly  experienced  affliction.  They  are  a 
marvelously  imaginative  presentation  of  three  thoughts, 
which  may  be  transformed  into  questions  that  men 
still  ask: — 


250  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

1.  Why  was  I  born? 

2.  Why  died  I  not  at  birth? 

3.  Why  is  Hfe  prolonged  when  it  means  suffering? 

These  questions  are  fundamental.  Job  attributes 
life  with  all  its  blessings  and  its  ills  to  God,  who,  if  he 
would,  could  spare  man  suffering.  In  the  prologue,  i: 
5,  Job  offers  sacrifices  in  order  to  protect  his  sons 
against  the  consequences  of  having  "sinned  and  re- 
nounced God  in  their  hearts,"  thus  indicating  his  ac- 
ceptance of  the  orthodox  idea,  which  is  so  persistently 
presented  to  him  by  his  friends.  In  the  poem,  however, 
Job  denies  that  suffering  is  the  result  of  sin  in  his  case, 
and  challenges  God  to  charge  him  with  unrighteous- 
ness, 31:35-37. 

Let  us  see  what  the  accusations  are,  and  what  replies 
to  them  Job  made  in  the  discussion  with  his  friends. 
Eliphaz,  with  a  courtesy  and  gentleness  that  distin- 
guish him  throughout  the  poem,  begins  by  referring,  in 
expressions  of  wonderful  tenderness  and  beauty,  to  the 
fact  that  Job  had  been  the  teacher  and  comforter  of 
others  in  trouble,  but  that  now  he  has  need  of  comfort 
himself.  But  he  immediately  reminds  Job  of  some- 
thing that  Job  had  probably  told  others,  that  none  ever 
"perished  being  innocent,"  4:7,  and: — 

"Behold,  happy  is  the  man  whom  God  correcteth: 
Therefore   despise  not  thou  the  chastening  of  the  Al- 
mighty."   Job  5:17. 

To  this  speech  Job  replies  by  referring  to  the  fact 
that  God  has  afflicted  him,  and  his  friends  and 
brethren  have  not  showed  him  kindness,  6:4,  14,  15, 
and  by  asking  Eliphaz  to  teach  him  wherein  he  has 
erred : — 


THE    BOOK   OF   JOB  25 1 

"But  your  reproof,  what  doth  it  reprove?  .  .  . 

"For  surely  I  shall  not  He  to  your  face,  Return  I  pray  you, 
let  there  be  no  injustice; 

Yea,  return  again,  my  cause  is  righteous."  Job  6:25,  28, 
29. 

And  In  the  same  speech  Job  addresses  Jehovah: — 

"If  I  have  sinned,  what  do  I  unto  thee,  O  thou  watcher  of 
men? 

Why  hast  thou  set  me  as  a  mark  for  thee. 

So  that  I  am  a  burden  to  myself? 

And  why  dost  thou  not  pardon  my  transgression,  and 
take  away  mine  iniquity?"    Job  7:20,  21. 

Job's  speeches  are  addressed  not  only  to  his  friends, 
but  also,  In  many  passages,  to  God  directly.  The  words 
addressed  to  God  shock  the  old  men,  who  refer  to  them, 
as  Bildad  does: — 

"Doth  God  pervert  justice? 

Or  doth  the  Almighty  pervert  righteousness? 

If  thy  children  have  sinned  against  him, 

And  he  hath  delivered  them  into  the  hand  of  their  trans- 
gression; 

If  thou  wouldest  seek  diligently  unto  God, 

And  make  thy  supplication  to  the  Almighty; 

If  thou  wert  pure  and  upright: 

Surely  now  he  would  awake  for  thee. 

And  make  the  habitation  of  thy  righteousness  prosper- 
ous. .  .  . 

Behold,  God  will  not  cast  away  a  perfect  man."  Job 
8:3-6,  20. 

Job  acknowledges  the  correctness  of  this,  and  says : — 

"Of  a  truth  I  know  that  it  is  so: 
But  how  can  man  be  just  with  God? 


252  A    BOOK   ABOUT    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

If  he  be  pleased  to  contend  with  him, 
He  cannot  answer  him  one  of  a  thousand. 
.  .  .  God  will  not  withdraw  his  anger.  .  .  .    For  he  break- 
eth  me  with  a  tempest, 

And  multiplieth  my  wounds  without  cause.*'     Job  9:2, 

"I  will  say  unto  God,  Do  not  condemn  me; 
Show  me  wherefore  thou  contendest  with  me.  .  .  . 
Although  thou  knowest  that  I  am  not  wicked, 
And  there  is  none  that  can  deliver  out  of  thy  hand."    Job 
10:2,  7. 

Zophar,  from  whom  we  now  hear,  is  of  impetuous 
disposition.  He  has  heard  Job's  replies  to  Eliphaz  and 
Bildad  and  begins  by  condemning  Job  for  his  boastful 
and  defiant  words: — 

"Should  thy  boastings  make  men  hold  their  peace.? 
And  when  thou  mockest,  shall  no  man  make  thee  ashamed? 
For  thou  sayest.  My  doctrine  is  pure, 
And  I  am  clean  in  thine  eyes. 
But  oh  that  God  would  speak, 
And  open  his  lips  against  thee. 

And  that  he  would  show  thee  the  secrets  of  wisdom! 
For  he  is  manifold  in  understanding. 

Know  therefore  that  God  exacteth  of  thee  less  than  thine 
iniquity  deserveth.**    Job  1 1  '.3-6. 

To  this  speech  of  Zophar,  and  to  those  of  the  other 
two  friends.  Job  replies,  in  his  third  speech: — 

"No  doubt  but  ye  are  the  people, 

And  wisdom  shall  die  with  you. 

But  I  have  understanding  as  well  as  you; 

I  am  not  inferior  to  you : 

Yea,  who  knoweth  not  such  things  as  these.?'*    Job  12:2-3. 


THE    BOOK    OF    JOB  ,  253 

He  again  asserts  his  righteousness,  after  appeaUng 
to  the  Almighty,  13:3,  and  says: — 

"Behold  now,  I  have  set  my  cause  in  order; 
I  know  that  I  am  righteous."    Job  13:18. 

This  is  the  state  of  the  discussion  at  the  close  of  the 
first  series  of  speeches.  Job  has  insisted  that  he  is 
righteous,  and  that  he  desires  to  "reason  with  God" 
13:3  and  he  has  rejected,  contemptuously  at  last,  the 
arguments  of  his  friends,  to  whom  he  says: — 

"But  ye  are  forgers  of  lies; 

Ye  are  all  physicians  of  no  value. 

Oh  that  ye  would  altogether  hold  your  peace! 

And  it  would  be  your  wisdom."    Job  13 :4-5. 

The  second  series  of  speeches  follows  the  same  order 
as  the  first.  Eliphaz  now  turns  Job's  own  words  back 
on  him,  stung  evidently  by  Job's  assertion  that  the 
wisest  thing  for  the  friends  to  do  would  be  to  keep 
quiet.    He  says  to  Job : — 

"For  thine  iniquity  teacheth  thy  mouth, 

And  thou  choosest  the  tongue  of  the  crafty. 

Thine  own  mouth  condemneth  thee,  and  not  I; 

Yea,  thine  own  lips  testify  against  thee. 

Art  thou  the  first  man  that  was  bom? 

Or  wast  thou  brought  forth  before  the  hills? 

Hast  thou  heard  the  secret  counsel  of  God  ? 

And  dost  thou  limit  wisdom  to  thyself? 

What  knowest  thou,  that  we  know  not? 

What  understandest  thou,  which  is  not  in  us? 

With  us  are  both  the  gray-headed  and  the  very  aged  men. 

Much  elder  than  thy  father."    Job  15  :S-io. 

Job  evidently  hoped  that  he  had  silenced  them,  and 
begins  his  reply: — 


254  A    BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Miserable  comforters  are  ye  all. 
Shall  vain  words  have  an  end? 
Or  what  provoketh  thee  that  thou  answerest? 
I  also  could  speak  as  ye  do; 
If  your  soul  were  in  my  souFs  stead, 
I  could  join  words  together  against  you, 
And  shake  my  head  at  you. 
But  I  would  strengthen  you  with  my  mouth. 
And  the  solace  of  my  lips  would  assuage  your  grief."    Job 
16:2-5. 

Job  desired  human  sympathy,  and  not  criticism  or 
argument.    He  had  told  them  before: — 

"To  him  that  is  ready  to  faint  kindness  should  he  showed 
from  his  friend; 

Even  to  him  that  forsaketh  the  fear  of  the  Almighty. 

My  brethren  have  dealt  deceitfully  as  a  brook. 

As  the  channel  of  brooks  that  pass  away,"  etc.  Job  6:14, 
15. 

He  again  declares  that  God  has  dealt  unjustly  with 
him : — 

"I  was  at  ease,  and  he  brake  me  asunder; 
Yea,  he  hath  taken  me  by  the  neck,  and  dashed  me  to 
pieces; 

He  hath  also  set  me  up  for  his  mark."    Job  16:12. 

Bildad  resents  Job's  contemptuous  attitude  towards 
his  friends: — 

"Wherefore  are  we  counted  as  beasts. 

And  are  become  unclean  in  your  sight.? 

That  thou  tearest  thyself  in  thine  anger, 

Shall  the  earth  be  forsaken  for  thee? 

Or  shall  the  rock  be  removed  out  of  its  place?"    Job  18:3-4. 


THE    BOOK   OF    JOB  255 

He  then  describes  what  happens   to  wicked   men, 
18:5-21,  and  the  application  of  his  words  is  clear. 
Job,  addressing  his  words  to  the  friends,  says: — 

"These  ten  times  have  ye  reproached  me: 

Ye  are  not  ashamed  that  ye  deal  hardly  with  me. 

And  be  it  indeed  that  I  have  erred, 

Mine  error  remaineth  with  myself.  .  .  . 

Behold,  I  cry  out  of  wrong,  but  I  am  not  heard: 

I  cry  for  help,  but  there  is  no  justice.'*    Job  19:3,  4,  7. 

He  rises  to  a  climax  of  pathos: — 

"Have  pity  upon  me,  have  pity  upon  me,  O  ye  my  friends; 

For  the  hand  of  God  hath  touched  me. 

Why  do  ye  persecute  me  as  God, 

And  are  not  satisfied  with  my  flesh?"    Job  19:21-22. 

In  this  speech  Job  expresses  a  definite  belief  in  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  19:25-27,  to  which  he  had 
referred  in  14:14-15,  and  16:18-22.  Some  day.  Job 
believes,  he  will  see  God  face  to  face,  a  desire  expressed 
in  31:35-37.  The  translation,  "Redeemer,"  of  the 
Hebrew  word  goel,  which  means  "vindicator"  is  mis- 
leading, for  Job  denied  that  he  had  sinned.  The  "goel" 
was  a  redeemer  from  unmerited  wrong,  not  from  sin.^ 

^This  passage,  Job  19:25-26,  is  an  interesting  example  of  the  more  accurate 
rendering  of  the  Revised  Versions,  for  the  King  James  Bible  reads: — 

"For  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  that  he  shall  stand  at  the 
latter  day  upon  the  earth:  And  thoughy  after  my  skin,  worms  destroy  this 
body.,  yet  in  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God." 

The  italicized  words  are  not  in  the  original.    The  Revised  Version  reads: — 
"  But  I  know  that  my  redeemer  liveth, 
And  that  he  shall  stand  up  at  the  last  upon  the  earth: 
And  after  my  skin  hath  been  thus  destroyed. 
Yet  from  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God." 
The  American  Revised  Version  reads: — 

"  But  as  for  me  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth. 
And  at  last  he  will  stand  up  upon  the  earth: 
And  after  my  skin,  even  this  hody^  is  destroyed, 


2S6  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  appeal  made  by  Job  to  the  pity  of  his  friends,  and 
his  reminding  them  19:29,  that  "there  is  a  judgment," 
has  its  effect  on  Zophar  who  says: — 

"I  have  heard  the  reproof  which  putteth  me  to  shame, 
And  the  spirit  of  my  understanding  answereth  me/*    20:3. 

Zophar  devotes  his  speech  to  a  discussion  of  the 
proposition  that  "the  triumphing  of  the  wicked  is 
short,"  20:5,  that  God  does  not  permit  him  to  prosper. 
Job  is  not  directly  referred  to,  but  in  his  reply  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that: — 

"One  dieth  in  his  full  strength. 

Being  wholly  at  ease  and  quiet: 

His  pails  are  full  of  milk, 

And  the  marrow  of  his  bones  is  moistened. 

And  another  dieth  in  bitterness  of  soul, 

And  never  tasteth  of  good. 

They  lie  down  alike  in  the  dust, 

And  the  worm  covereth  them."    Job  21 123 -26. 

Here,  and  in  the  following  verses.  Job  states  his  views 
of  the  general  subject  more  definitely  perhaps  than  else- 
where. He  has  agreed  all  along  that  the  wicked  do  not 
flourish  permanently,  and  that  calamity  and  suffering 
follow  sin,  but  he  has  consistently  refused  to  accept 
this  as  having  any  bearing  on  his  own  case.     His  afflic- 

Then  without  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God." 

The  version  of  the  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America  reads: — 

"  But  as  for  me,  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth. 

And  that  He  will  witness  at  the  last  upon  the  dust; 

And  when  after  my  skin  this  is  destroyed, 

Then  without  my  flesh  shall  I  see  God." 
The  Douay  Version,  translating  the  Vulgate,  reads: — 
"For  I  know  that  my  Redeemer  liveth,  and  in  the  day  last  I  shall  rise 
out  of  the  earth.    And  I  shall  be  clothed  again  with  my  skin,  and  in  my 
flesh  I  shall  see  my  God." 


THE    BOOK    OF    JOB  257 

tions  arc  the  act  of  Jehovah,  the  justice  of  which  is  not 
apparent.    To  his  friends  Job  again  says : — 

"How  then  comfort  ye  me  in  vain, 

Seeing  in  your  answers  there  remaineth  only  falsehood." 
Job  21:34. 

EHphaz  begins  the  third  series  of  speeches,  22:1, 
with  a  repetition  of  the  general  accusation  that  Job  had 
sinned,  but  now  he  becomes  specific  and  charges  him 
with  the  very  sins  against  men,  from  which  Job,  later, 
ch.  31,  in  his  oath  of  clearing,  declares  he  has  been  abso- 
lutely free.  These  are  avarice,  extortion,  violation  of 
the  laws  of  hospitality,  misuse  of  power,  and  unkind- 
ness  to  widows  and  the  fatherless.  Then  follows  a 
beautiful  and  tender  appeal  to  Job,  such  as  Eliphaz 
alone  of  the  friends  could  make,  to  turn  to  God,  who  is 
kind  and   righteous : — 

"Acquaint  now  thyself  with  him,  and  be  at  peace: 
Thereby  good  shall  come  unto  thee.    Receive  I  pray  thee, 

the  law  from  his  mouth, 

And  lay  up  his  words  in  thy  heart. 

If  thou  return  to  the  Almighty,  thou  shalt  be  built  up, 

If  thou  put  away  unrighteousness  far  from  thy  tents.'* 

Job  22:21-23. 

To  this  Job  replies,  no  longer  in  a  tone  of  bitterness 
towards  his  friends,  but  with  a  desire  that  he  may  be 
at  peace,  not  as  the  result  of  any  acknowledgment  of 
sin,  but  as  the  result  of  a  statement  of  his  case  directly 
to  God,  and  of  a  reply  from  him  that  would  make  all 
clear: — 

"Oh  that  I  knew  where  I  might  find  him! 
That  I  might  come  even  to  his  seat! 


258  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

I  would  set  my  cause  In  order  before  him, 

And  fill  my  mouth  with  arguments. 

I  would  know  the  words  which  he  would  answer  me, 

And  understand  what  he  would  say  unto  me. 

Would  he  contend  with  me  in  the  greatness  of  his  power? 

Nay;  but  he  would  give  heed  unto  me. 

There  the  upright  might  reason  with  him."    Job  23 13-7. 

Job  does  not  understand  why  God  permits  injustice 
and  avarice  and  all  forms  of  unkindness  to  continue, 
ch.  24.  He  is  impressed  by  the  fact  that  these  things 
exist,  apparently  unpunished,  on  earth,  and  the  thought 
that  the  wicked  ultimately  fall  does  not  satisfy  him. 
There  seems  to  him  to  be  injustice  inflicted  upon  the 
poor,    24:3-4.:— 

"From  out  of  the  populous  city  men  groan, 

And  the  soul  of  the  wounded  crieth  out: 

Yet  God  regardeth  not  the  folly."    Job  24:12. 

Bildad  speaks  of  the  greatness  of  God  and  the  in- 
feriority to  him  of  man,  repeating  Job's  question,  9:2, 
"But  how  can  man  be  just  with  God.'*": — 

"How  then  can  man  be  just  with  God.? 

Or  how  can  he  be  clean  that  is  born  of  a  woman? 

Behold,  even  the  moon  hath  no  brightness, 

And  the  stars  are  not  pure  in  his  sight: 

How  much  less  man,  that  is  a  worm! 

And  the  son  of  man  that  is  a  worm!"    Job-25 :4-6. 

Job  refuses  to  have  the  issue  confused  by  any  gen- 
eral discussion  of  the  greatness  of  God  and  the  little- 
ness of  man.  He  wishes  first,  comfort  from  his  friends, 
and  second,  a  recognition  by  them  that  he  has  been 
treated  unjustly  by  God: — 


THE   BOOK   OF   JOB  259 

"As  God  liveth,  who  hath  taken  away  my  right. 
And  the  Almighty,  who  hath  vexed  my  soul  .  .  . 
Surely  my  lips  shall  not  speak  unrighteousness, 
Neither  shall  my  tongue  utter  deceit."    Job  27:2-4. 

If,  as  is  possible,  27:13-28:28,  is  to  be  taken  as  the 
third  speech  of  Zophar,  for  whom  no  speech  is  indicated 
in  our  version,^  he  there  continues  the  thought  of  his 
second  speech,  ch.  20,  and  discusses  God's  treatment 
of  wicked  men.  He  makes  several  statements  which 
may  be  applied  directly  to  Job's  present  condition, 
which  is  thus  attributed  to  his  having  sinned: — 

"This  is  the  portion  of  a  wicked  man  with  God.  .  .  . 
If  his  children  be  multiplied,  it  is  for  the  sword;  .  .  . 
Though  he  heap  up  silver  as  the  dust, 
And  prepare  raiment  as  the  clay; 
He  may  prepare  it,  but  the  just  shall  put  it  on,  .  .  . 
For  God  shall  hurl  at  him,  and  not  spare:  .  .  . 
Men  shall  clap  their  hands  at  him. 

And  shall  hiss  him  out  of  his  place."  Job  27:13,  14,  16, 
17,  22,  23. 

Job  had  lost  his  children,  and  his  wealth,  and  had  be- 
come an  object  of  derision  to  men,  ch.  30,  he  had  com- 
plained that  God  had  made  a  "mark"  of  him,  16:12, 
so  the  intention  of  Zophar 's  words  is  plain.  If  27:7-23 
is  spoken  by  Job  he  is  simply  telling  the  friends  what 
they  have  been  telling  him,  although  he  had  insisted 
that  his  own  afflictions  were  not  the  result  of  sin. 

The  poem  on  Wisdom,  ch.  28,  is  complete  in  itself 
and  has  no  necessary  connection  with  the  argument, 

*  See  above,  p.  240,  note.  Dr.  Driver  however  says: — "C.  27-28.  Job's 
final  words  to  his  friends.  Zophar  fails  to  come  forward ;  and  Job  accordingly, 
after  a  pause  resumes  hia  discourse."  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the 
Old  Testament,  S.  R.  Driver,  p.  421.  .  . 


26o  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

but  is  perhaps  more  appropriately  assigned  to  Zophar 
than  to  Job,  for  the  latter  is  too  much  occupied  with 
his  thoughts  of  God's  injustice  to  him,  almost  every 
word  he  has  spoken  referring  directly  to  his  personal 
condition,  to  enter  upon  a  poetical  treatment  of  Wis- 
dom, by  which  is  meant  comprehension  of  God's  gov- 
ernment and  regulation  of  the  world  of  nature  and  the 
life  of  men.  Wisdom  and  understanding  are  not  given 
to  the  ostrich,  but  she  knows  what  is  needful  for  her. 
39:17.  In  ch.  28,  as  in  other  passages  in  Job,  the  mean- 
ing is  made  clear  by  more  accurate  translation  in  the 
Revised  Versions,  and  especially  by  recognition  of  the 
fact  that  the  whole  poem  is  included  in  the  figure  of 
the  miner  and  the  mine. 

The  division  of  the  book  consisting  of  the  speeches 
of  the  three  old  friends,  and  Job's  replies  to  them,  is 
closed  by  the  pictures  given  by  Job,  of  his  former  great- 
ness, when  he  was  prosperous,  respected,  and  "dwelt 
as  a  king  in  the  army,"  ch.  29,  and  of  his  present  pit- 
iable condition,  ch.  30,  when  he  is  held  in  derision  by 
those  "whose  fathers"  he  "disdained  to  set  with  the 
dogs  of  [his]  flock,"  when,  afflicted  physically,  and 
persecuted  by  God,  no  one  stretches  out  a  hand  to 
help  him: — 

"Thou  art  turned  to  be  cruel  to  me; 
With  the  might  of  thy  hand  thou  persecutest  me.  .  .  . 
When  I  looked  for  good,  then  evil  came; 
And  when  I  waited  for  light,  there  came  darkness."    Job 
30:21,  26. 

Afilicted,  despised  by  men,  distrusted  and  accused 
by  his  friends,  who  utter  no  word  of  pity  for  his  suffer- 
ings, this  great-souled  man,  conscious  of  no  sin  towards 
God,  by  whom  he  believes  himself  to  be  persecuted, 


THE   BOOK   OF   JOB  261 

maintains  his  integrity,  and  refuses  absolutely  to  be 
false  to  his  conviction  of  his  own  righteousness: — 

"Till  I  die  I  will  not  put  away  mine  integrity  from  me. 
My  righteousness  I  hold  fast,   and  will  not  let  it  go." 
Job  27:5-6. 

Eliphaz,  ch.  22,  had  accused  Job  of  violations  of  his 
duties  towards  others.  Job  now,  ch.  31,  rises  from  his 
seat,  as  we  see  him  in  imagination,  utters  a  declaration 
of  innocence  of  all  the  charges  made  against  him  by 
Eliphaz,  and  ends  by  challenging  the  Almighty  to  an- 
swer him.  This  is  the  climax  of  his  assertions  of  right- 
eousness. "The  words  of  Job  are  ended."  The  three 
friends  "ceased  to  answer  Job  because  he  was  righteous 
in  his  own  eyes,"  32:1.  He  declared  himself  innocent 
of  impurity  of  life,  injustice  or  unkindness  to  his  serv- 
ants, unkindness  to  widows  and  the  fatherless,  abuse 
of  wealth,  denial  of  God,  joy  in  the  calamity  of  even 
his  enemy,  lack  of  hospitality,  fear  of  the  opinion  of 
others,  misuse  of  the  soil.  The  moral  grandeur  of  Job 
in  not  rejoicing  at  the  "destruction  of  him  that  hated" 
him  is  far  in  advance  of  the  ideas  of  his  age,  and  sug- 
gests the  teaching  of  Jesus,  Matthew  5:43-44,  "Ye 
have  heard  that  it  was  said.  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neigh- 
bor,^ and  hate  thine  enemy:  but  I  say  unto  you.  Love 
your  enemies,  and  pray  for  them  that  persecute  you." 
With  this  self-vindication  of  Job  the  case  rests.  The 
wisdom  of  old  men  has  not  sufficed  to  make  him  ac- 
knowledge that  his  affliction  must  be  the  result  of  sin. 
On  the  contrary,  he  has  maintained  that  God  has  per- 
secuted him  without  cause,  and  that  an  explanation  of 
the  reason  for  this  Injustice  Is  due.  Job  has  appealed 
*  "Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."    Leviticus  19:18. 


262  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

to  the  highest  court,  and  the  friends,  satisfied  with  their 
own  position,  simply  wait  in  silence. 

We  now  become  aware  that  Job  and  his  friends  have 
been  speaking  in  the  presence  of  others.  Job's  wife, 
doubtless,  his  brethren  and  sisters  and  acquaintances, 
all  of  whom  had  turned  against  him,  19:13-19,  had  lis- 
tened to  the  discussion  and  all  had  shared  the  opinions 
of  the  three  friends.  Evidently  not  one  had  sympa- 
thized with  Job.  Of  these  bystanders,  one  can  no 
longer  restrain  himself.  He  had  waited  only  until  those 
who  were  older  than  he  had  ceased  speaking.  Elihu, 
a  young  man,  not  mentioned  in  either  prologue  or  epi- 
logue, and  introduced  here  with  an  explanation  of  his 
interposition,  addresses  the  three  friends,  32:6-22,  whom 
he  reproaches  for  their  failure  to  convince  Job.  They 
make  no  reply.  He  next  addresses  Job,  ch.  33,  who  re- 
mains silent.  Again  he  addresses  the  friends,  turning 
later  to  Job,  chs.  34-37.  The  friends  and  Job  evidently 
ignore  Elihu,  much  of  whose  speech  must  have  been  for 
the  benefit  of  the  bystanders. 

Job  and  the  three  old  men,  who  because  of  their  age 
and  experience,  represent  wisdom  and  understanding, 
are  opposed  by  Elihu,  who  represents  the  opinion  of  the 
young  man  that  wisdom  is  not  derived  from  years  and 
experience  only,  but  that  there  is  also  a  wisdom,  which 
may  be  possessed  naturally  by  the  young,  and  which 
may  be  capable  of  reaching  right  conclusions  concern- 
ing the  problems  of  man  and  his  relation  to  God. 

Elihu,  while  criticising  both  Job  and  the  friends  for 
their  failure  to  set  forth  adequately  principles  involved 
in  the  discussion  of  the  justice  of  God,  has  little  to  add. 
The  only  new  idea  that  he  contributes  is  that  afflictions 
may  be  warnings  and  discipline  intended  to  reveal  men 
to  themselves: — 


THE    BOOK   OF    JOB  263 

"And  if  they  be  bound  in  fetters, 
And  be  taken  in  the  cords  of  affliction; 
Then  he  showeth  them  their  work, 

And  their  transgressions,  that  they  have  behaved  them- 
selves proudly."    Job  36:8-9. 

As  he  is  speaking,  Elihu  evidently  feels  the  first  drops 
of  rain,  36:27-29,  and  immediately  directs  attention 
to  them,  and  to  the  clouds  from  which  they  came,  as 
incomprehensible  to  man.  The  thunder  and  lightning 
likewise,  familiar  though  they  are,  we  do  not  under- 
stand, and  how  can  man  expect  to  understand  God,  who 
is  nevertheless  just: — 

"  Touching  the  Almighty,  we  cannot  find  him  out: 
He  is  excellent  in  power; 

And  in  justice  and  plenteous  righteousness  he  will  not 
afflict."    Job  37:23. 

The  scene  closes  in  storm,*  which  adds  greatly  to 
the  idea  of  the  mysterious  and  irresistible  power  of  God. 
The  mention  of  rain  and  the  reference  to  clouds,  light- 
ning and  thunder  always  indicating  and  accompanying 
the  presence  of  God,  remind  us  of  Psalm  29,  which  is  a 
description  of  a  storm,  and  also  of  "the  thunderings 
and  the  lightnings"  on  Sinai,  Exodus  20:18,  and  of  the 
vision  of  Habakkuk  ch.  3,  when  God  was  present. 
They  serve  the  purpose  of  preparing  the  reader  for 
the  voice  of  Jehovah,  which  is  now  heard  speaking 
to  Job  "out  of  the  whirlwind,"  evidently  in  direct  an- 
swer to  the  challenge  which  Job  had  uttered  in  the 
close  his  speech; — 

*  A  not  uncommon  literary  device.  Cf.  the  storms  in  Shakespeare's 
Machethy  Julius  Casar,  Lear,  and  in  other  dramas. 


264  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Lo,  here  is  my  signature,  let  the  Almighty  answer  me.** 
Job  31:35. 

Job  had  appealed  to  the  highest  court,  the  friends 
had  rested  their  case,  and  now  all  were  to  hear  Jehovah. 
The  tests,  which  Satan  had  been  permitted  to  apply, 
Job  had  stood  successfully.  He  had  not  renounced 
God,  although,  under  affliction,  and  hurt  by  the  words 
of  his  friends,  he  had  insisted  upon  his  righteousness, 
and  had  demanded  of  God  a  reason  for  his,  to  him, 
unjust  sufferings.  The  Satan  (who  is  not  the  Satan,  or 
Devil,  of  the  New  Testament,  a  later  conception)  does 
not  appear  at  the  close  of  the  book.  Jehovah  deals 
directly  with  Job. 

Nowhere  else  is  there  such  a  magnificent  description 
of  the  relation  of  God  to  his  universe,  as  we  have  in 
Job,  chs.  38  and  39.  Parts  of  Isaiah  are  comparable  to 
it  in  grandeur,  but  they  are  different  in  tone.  Passages 
in  Psalms  rise  to  the  summit  of  appreciation  of  the 
greatness  of  God  in  his  creatorship.  The  author  of  Job 
impresses  on  us  that  the  fabric  of  the  entire  universe 
is  inseparable  from  the  problems  of  man's  life.  Job 
must  not  think  of  himself  alone,  but  as  a  part  of  God's 
creation.  Job's  demand  for  an  answer  from  God  is  met 
by  God's  demand  for  an  answer  from  Job : — 

"Gird  up  now  thy  loins  like  a  man; 
For  I  will  demand  of  thee,  and  declare  thou  unto  me. 
Where  wast  thou  when  I  laid  the  foundations  of  the  earth? 
Declare,  if  thou  hast  understanding."    Job  38:3-4. 

And  Job  replies: — 

"Behold  I  am  of  small  account;  what  shall  I  answer  thee?" 
Job  40:4. 


THE    BOOK   OF    JOB  265 

And  Jehovah  asks: — 

"Wilt  thou  even  annul  my  judgment? 
Wilt  thou  condemn  me,  that  thou  mayest  be  justified?" 
Job  40:8. 

Job  is  humiliated  when  he  compares  his  littleness  to 
God's  greatness.  He  now  sees  that  the  purposes  of 
Jehovah  cannot  be  restrained,  and  that  absolute  de- 
pendence on  God,  and  faith  in  his  righteousness,  is  the 
only  attitude  that  man  should  maintain.  Job  acknowl- 
edges no  sin  save  that  he  had  failed  to  recognize  that 
there  are  relations  in  God's  dealings  with  men,  which 
men,  owing  to  being  finite,  cannot  understand.  For 
men  to  assume  that  they  do  understand,  or  to  complain 
of  injustice,  when  they  do  not  understand,  are  equally 
inconsistent  with  the  unquestioning  faith  which  Jeho- 
vah demands. 

In  the  conclusion.  Job  is  restored  to  greater  pros- 
perity than  before,  because  he  has  steadfastly  refused  to 
utter  falsehood  by  pretending  to  understand,  what  he 
did  not.  The  three  friends  are  rebuked,  and  commanded 
to  oifer  sacrifice,  not  because  they  advanced  the  argu- 
ments they  did,  which  were  the  orthodox  arguments  of 
their  day,  but  because  their  attitude  towards  Job  had 
been  wrong  throughout;  for  at  no  time  did  it  occur  to 
them,  in  their  certainty  of  their  own  infallibility,  that 
perhaps  there  might  be,  in  a  particular  case,  such  as 
that  of  Job,  elements  of  which  they  were  ignorant. 
They  are  therefore  punished  not  because  they  had 
wronged  Job,  but  because  they  had  wronged  Jehovah, 
who  says  to  Eliphaz: — 

"My  wrath  is  kindled  against  thee,  and  against  thy  two 
friends;  for  ye  have  not  spoken  of  me  the  thing  that  is  right, 


266  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

as  my  servant  Job  hath  .  .  .  and  my  servant  Job  shall 
pray  for  you;  for  him  will  I  accept,  that  I  deal  not  with  you 
after  your  folly;  .  .  .  And  Jehovah  turned  the  captivity  of 
Job,  when  he  prayed  for  his  friends."    Job  42:7-10. 

Opinions  as  to  what  the  book  of  Job  teaches  are  at 
variance  with  each  other.  The  author  of  it  does  not 
draw  conclusions  as  to  the  precise  purpose  of  suffering. 
He  does  however  set  forth  clearly  his  opinion  that  Job, 
in  his  persistent  refusal  to  say  that  he  believed  some- 
thing which  he  did  not  believe,  pleased  God,  and  that 
Job's  friends,  in  their  equally  persistent  endeavor  to 
make  Job  believe  that  their  opinions  represented  God's 
thoughts  toward  man,  did  not  please  God.  The  sover- 
eignty of  God  is  indisputable,  and  likewise  inscrutable. 
>  Suffering  may  be  a  test  of  goodness,  or  a  punishment 
for  sin,  or  a  warning  and  discipline.  The  first  idea  is 
that  of  the  prologue,  the  second  that  of  the  three 
friends,  and  the  third  that  of  Elihu.  Jehovah  does  not 
say  why  men  are  made  to  suffer. 

The  Job,  who  at  the  close  of  the  book  prays  for  his 
friends,  is  a  man  who  has  learned  through  the  expe- 
rience of  great  suffering,  mental  and  spiritual,  as  well 
as  physical,  that  men  need  sympathy  and  kindness 
more  than  they  need  criticism.  In  the  opening  chapter 
we  see  Job  praying  for  his  children.  At  the  close  we 
see  him,  chastened  and  humiliated,  but  happy  in  the 
favor  of  Jehovah,  praying  for  those  professed  friends, 
who,  in  his  sorrow  and  affliction,  had  for  him  no  words 
of  sympathy,  but  only  accusations  of  hidden  sin.  Job, 
vindicated,  praying  for  those  who  had  not  been  kind 
to  him,  presents  a  remarkable  picture.  From  a  gener- 
ation puzzled  and  perplexed  by  the  impossibility  of 
reconciling  what  they  saw  with  what  they  professed 
to  believe  came  the  Book  of  Job,  a  discussion  of  the 


THE    BOOK    OF    JOB  267 

problem,  which  reached  the  conclusion_that  the  fi 
cannot  understand  the  infinite.    Job  says: — 

"I  know  that  thou  canst  do  all  things, 
And  that  no  purpose  of  thine  can  be  restrained. 
Who  is  this  that  hideth  counsel  without  knowledge? 
Therefore  have  I  uttered  that  which  I  understood  not, 
Things  too  wonderful  for  me,  which  I  knew  not."     Job 
42:2-3- 


CHAPTER  XII 

PARABLES 

The  Oriental  mind  delights  in  picturesque  figurative 
language  of  which  the  parables  of  the  Old  and  New 
Testaments  are  evidence.  To  illustrate  or  explain  an 
idea  by  telling  a  little  story  is  as  characteristic  in  the 
East  to-day,  as  it  was  in  the  days  of  Jesus  or  of  David. 
The  little  story,  however,  is  not  always  for  the  purpose 
of  making  an  idea  easy  to  grasp,  the  parable  being  used 
probably  to  reveal  a  meaning  gradually,  and  thus  make 
it  more  impressive.  The  indirectness  of  the  parable 
and  its  picturesqueness  are  spoken  of,  but  it  possesses 
another  quality,  which  is  the  power  to  establish  a  sym- 
pathetic personal  relationship  between  the  speaker  and 
his  hearers  by  attracting  their  attention  and  arousing 
their  curiosity  as  to  the  meaning.^ 

The  absence  of  abstractions  in  the  Bible  even  in  the 
conceptions  of  God,  and  the  purely  personal  character 
of  all  discussions  and  reasonings,  is  clearly  evident  in 
Job  where  an  abstract  problem  is  discussed  in  a  con- 
crete instance.  When  Jesus  was  asked  "What  is  the 
great  commandment.^"  Matthew  22:37-39,  he  replied 
in  language  which  referred  directly  to  the  relationships 
of  persons  to  each  other,  "Love  the  Lord  thy  God," 

'  "  Parabolic  speech  is  dear  to  the  Oriental  heart.  It  is  poetical,  mystical, 
sociable.  In  showing  the  reason  why  Jesus  taught  in  parables,  Biblical 
writers  speak  of  the  indirect  method,  the  picture  language,  the  concealing 


of  the  truth  from  those  'who  had  not  the  understanding,'  and  so  forth.  But 
those  writers  fail  to  mention  a  most  important  reason,  namely,  the  sociable 
nature  of  such  a  method  of  teaching,  which  is  so  dear  to  the  Syrian  heart.' 
Ttu  Syrian  Christ,  A.  M.  Rihbany,  p.  142. 

268 


PARABLES  269 

"Love  thy  neighbor,"  words  found  also  in  Luke  10: 
27.  There  is  a  picturesqueness  about  each  of  these 
commands.  They  are  in  Luke  followed  immediately 
by  the  question  "Who  is  my  neighbor?"  which  is  an- 
swered by  the  parable  of  the  good  Samaritan.  The 
symbolic  visions  of  the  prophets  and  of  John  all  par- 
take of  the  nature  of  parables,  and  most  of  them  are 
the  representation  of  one  idea,  or  thing,  in  terms  of 
another. 

Both  the  Hebrew  word,  mashal,  and  the  Greek  word 
parabola  contain  the  idea  of  a  comparision  of  two  things, 
a  laying  of  one  beside  the  other.  The  Hebrew  word  is 
translated  "parable,"  and  it  is  also  translated  "prov- 
erb," a  fact  which  indicates  the  close  relation  of  the 
parable  to  the  proverb.  Both  contain  comparisons, 
usually  for  the  purpose  of  inculcating  some  moral 
truth.  Most  proverbs  may  easily  be  expanded  into 
parables,  and  parables  may  be  condensed  into  proverbs. 
The  parable  and  the  fable  are  similar,  and  the  conden- 
sation into  a  proverb  may  be  found,  for  example,  in  the 
moral  appended  to  fables  like  ^sop's  — "this  fable  is 
intended  to  teach  this  truth."  Many  of  the  same 
ideas  that  are  presented  in  the  parables  of  Jesus  may 
be  found,  as  part  of  the  general  thought  of  the  Jews, 
in  the  book  of  Proverbs,  but  expressed  far  less  forcibly 
and  picturesquely.  Is  not  the  general  idea  of  the  par- 
able of  the  talents,  Matthew  25:14-30,  or  the  pounds, 
Luke  19:12-26,  contained  in  such  proverbs  as  these.'* 

"The  hand  of  the  diligent  shall  bear  rule; 

But  the  slothful  shall  be  put  under  task  work."  Proverbs 
12:34. 

"The  sluggard  will  not  plow  by  reason  of  the  winter; 

Therefore  he  shall  beg  in  harvest,  and  have  nothing." 
Proverbs  20:4. 


270  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Teachings  like  those  of  the  parable  of  the  good 
Samaritan,  Luke  10:30-37,  may  be  expressed  as  prov- 
erbs:— 

"Withhold  not  good  from  them  to  whom  it  is  due, 
When  it  is  in  the  power  of  thy  hand  to  do  it."    Proverbs 

3:27. 

"He  that  despiseth  his  neighbor  sinneth; 

But  he  that  hath  pity  on  the  poor,  happy  is  he."  Proverbs 
14:21. 

"He  that  oppresseth  the  poor  reproacheth   his  Maker; 

But  he  that  hath  mercy  on  the  needy  honoreth  him." 
Proverbs  14:31. 

Perhaps  some  such  story  as  that  of  the  prodigal 
son,  Luke  15:1 1-32,  or  a  part  of  it,  may  be  inferred  from 

"Whoso  keepeth  the  law  is  a  wise  son; 
But  he  that  is  a  companion  of  gluttons  shameth  his  father." 
Proverbs  28:7. 

There  are  several  uses  of  the  word  "parable"  which 
are  often  distinguished: — 

1.  What  we  commonly  know  as  "parables,"  short  stories 
to  illustrate  some  teaching,  as  the  wise  and  foolish  virgins. 
Matthew  25:1. 

2.  An  indefinite  use  of  the  word  "parable,"  where  there  is 
truth  to  be  imparted,  but  there  seems  to  be  no  explicit  com- 
parison, e.  g.,  Psalm  78:2,  "I  will  open  my  mouth  in  a  parable; 
I  will  utter  dark  sayings  of  old,"  or  where  the  comparison  is 
simply  implied  as  in  Mark  7:15,  17,  "There  is  nothing  from 
without  the  man,  that  going  into  him  can  defile  him;  but  the 
things  that  proceed  out  of  the  man  are  those  that  defile  the 
man."  .  .  .  "his  disciples  asked  of  him  the  parable." 

3.  The  "proverb"  which,  in  its  origin,  if  not  its  form,  is  a 
comparison.  This,  as  has  been  remarked  often,  is  very 
clearly  indicated  by  the  well-known  passage  in  the  book  of 
Proverbs  26:7,  "The  legs  of  the  lame  are  not  equal  (A.  R.  V. 


PARABLES  271 

"hang  loose");  so  Is  a  parable  (proverb)  in  the  mouth  of 
fools." 

.4.  The  use  of  the  word  "parable"  in  such  passages  as 
Numbers  23:7,  18;  Job  27:1;  Isaiah  14:4;  Micah  2:4;  and 
Habakkuk  2:6,  where  we  have  the  phrase  to  "take  up  his 
parable"  or  in  Numbers  21:27,  where  a  song  of  triumph  is 
said  to  have  been  uttered  by  those  "that  speak  in  proverbs" — 
"In  this  use  of  the  phrase,  therefore,  we  seem  to  have  a  sur- 
vival of  the  two  peculiarities  of  the  proverb,  ordinarily  so 
called,  viz.,  the  figurative  method  of  teaching  and  the  pointed 
form  of  parallelism  or  antithesis  implying  comparison  or 
contrast,  but  of  what  we  generally  understand  either  by 
"parable"  or  by  "proverb"  there  is  hardly  an  indication."  ^ 

In  passages  like  Deuteronomy  28:37,  I  Kings  9:7, 
and  II  Chronicles  7:20,  the  Hebrew  word  Is  translated 
"proverb"  In  a  phrase,  "a  proverb  and  a  by-word." 
The  old  English  "by-word"  meant  a  comparison,  and 
was  Itself  the  equivalent  of  "proverb." 

The  Greek  word  parabole  from  which  we  derive  our 
word  "parable"  Is  translated  "proverb"  In  the  King 
James  Version  and  "parable"  In  the  Revised  Versions 
in  the  passage: — 

"Doubtless  ye  will  say  unto  me  this  parable,  Physician, 
heal  thyself."    Luke  4:23. 

The  same  Greek  word  Is  translated  "figure"  in  the 
King  James  and  the  American  Revised  Versions  In 
the  following  passages.  The  Revised  Version  (1881) 
reads  "parable"  Instead  of  "figure": — 

"...  the  way  Into  the  holy  place  hath  not  yet  been  made 
manifest,  while  the  first  tabernacle  is  yet  standing;  which 
is  a  figure  for  the  time  present."    Hebrews  9:8,  9. 

"from  whence  he  did  also  In  a  figure  receive  him  back." 
Hebrews  11:19. 

^  See  Alfred  Barry,  The  Parables  of  the  Old  Testament^  London,  pp.  15-21. 


272  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

A  parable  is  a  series  of  instructions  in: — 

"And  he  spake  a  parable  unto  those  that  were  bidden, 
when  he  marked  how  they  chose  out  the  chief  seats;  saying 
unto  them,  When  thou  art  bidden  of  any  man  to  a  marriage 
feast,  sit  not  down  in  the  chief  seat:  etc."    Luke  14:7-8. 

A  parable  is  a  teaching  or  lesson  in : — 

"Now  from  the  fig  tree  learn  her  parable."  Matthew 
24:32. 

The  parable  may  be  a  fable,  which,  like  the  parable, 
is  characteristic  of  the  Orient.  The  fable  is  represented 
in  the  Bible  by  only  two  examples,  both  treating  of 
trees.  The  difference  between  the  fable,  exemplified 
in  JEsop,  or  in  the  Bible,  and  the  parable,  is  that  the 
fable  transcends  nature  and  gives  us  talking  animals, 
trees,  etc.,  while  the  Biblical  parable  is  always  within 
the  realm  of  reality.  Dean  Trench  calls  attention  to 
this,  and  also  to  the  fact  that  the  fable  is  concerned 
only  with  "the  recommendation  and  enforcement  of 
the  prudential  virtues,"  never  with  spiritual  truth. ^ 
This  is  clearly  the  distinction  between  the  fables  and 
the  parables  of  the  Bible.  The  fables  in  the  Bible 
appear  to  be  figures  such  as  were  common  in  the  talk 
of  the  day.    They  are: — 

The  Fable  of  Jotham 

"The  trees  went  forth  on  a  time 
To  anoint  a  King  over  them. 

And  they  said  unto  the  olive  tree, 

Reign  thou  over  us, 

*  R.  G.  Trench,  Parables  Condensed,  1861,  pp.  8-10. 


PARABLES  273 

But  the  olive  tree  said  unto  them, 
Should  I  leave  my  fatness 
Wherewith  by  me  they  honor  God  and  man, 
And  go  to  wave  to  and  fro  over  the  trees  ? 

And  the  trees  said  to  the  fig  tree, 

Come  thou  and  reign  over  us. 

But  the  fig  tree  said  unto  them, 

Should  I  leave  my  sweetness 

And  my  good  fruit. 

And  go  to  wave  to  and  fro  over  the  trees  ? 

And  the  trees  said  unto  the  vine. 

Come  thou  and  reign  over  us. 

And  the  vine  said  unto  them. 

Should  I  leave  my  new  wine. 

Which  cheereth  God  and  man. 

And  go  to  wave  to  and  fro  over  the  trees? 

Then  said  all  the  trees  unto  the  bramble. 

Come  thou  and  reign  over  us. 

And  the  bramble  said  unto  the  trees. 

If  in  truth  ye  anoint  me  king  over  you. 

Then  come  and  take  refuge  in  my  shade; 

And  if  not,  let  fire  come  out  of  the  bramble. 

And  devour  the  cedars  of  Lebanon."    Judges  9:8-15. 

The  Fable  of  Jehoash 

"And  Jehoash  the  king  of  Israel  sent  to  Amaziah  king  of 
Judah,  saying,  The  thistle  that  was  in  Lebanon  sent  to  the 
cedar  that  was  in  Lebanon,  saying.  Give  thy  daughter  to 
my  son  to  wife:  and  there  passed  by  a  wild  beast  that  was  in 
Lebanon,  and  trod  down  the  thistle.    II  Kings  14:9. 

In  "Go  to  the  ant  thou  sluggard;  Consider  her  ways 
and  be  wise,"  Proverbs  6\6^  and  "The  ox  knoweth  his 


274  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

owner,  and  the  ass  his  master's  cnh;  but  Israel  doth  not 
know,  my  people  doth  not  consider,"  Isaiah  1:3,  we 
have  comparison  of  men  with  animals — simply  analogy. 
Ezekiel  uses  figurative  language  of  the  nature  of  the 
fable  in  passages  like  17:3-10,  19:2-14,  24:3-14,  where 
we  have  the  figures  of  the  two  eagles,  of  the  lioness,  of 
the  vine,  of  the  seething  cauldron;  and  in  31:3-9,  of 
the  cedar  of  Lebanon.  These  are  not  strictly  fables,  or 
parables,  however,  as  the  interpretation  of  them  is  inter- 
woven with  the  figures.  They  are  rather  extended  meta- 
phors. We  are  never  at  a  loss  to  know  whether  the 
words  are  figurative  or  literal.  The  figure  of  the  vine- 
yard in  Isaiah  5:1-7  is  explained,  and  its  meaning  made 
clear.  It  is  used  to  enforce  a  lesson  by  drawing  an 
analogy. 

In  the  parable  of  the  woman  of  Tekoah,  II  Samuel 
14:1-20,  and  the  parable  of  Nathan,  II  Samuel  12:1- 
15,  we  have  examples  of  the  tactful  use  of  the  parable 
for  the  purpose  of  conveying  inoffensively  to  a  passion- 
ate king  messages  which  it  would  probably  have  been 
dangerous  to  utter  directly.  In  each  of  these  passages 
we  have  an  intensely  dramatic  situation  presented  to 
us.  There  is  a  play  of  personalities  on  each  other. 
There  is  more  in  the  scene  than  merely  the  parable. 
In  each  instance  as  the  result  of  listening  to  a  parable, 
the  king  commits  himself  to  an  opinion,  and  to  a 
course  of  action,  only  to  find  that  he  has  condemned 
himself. 

There  is  probably  nothing  in  the  Bible  more  gener- 
ally known  than  the  parables  of  Jesus,  if  we  except  the 
Lord's  Prayer,  the  Ten  Commandments  and  the  Christ- 
mas story.  There  are  other  superlatively  beautiful  and; 
likewise,  familiar  passages  such  as  the  twenty-third 
Psalm,  the  fortieth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  the  Beatitudes, 


PARABLES  275 

the  fourteenth  chapter  of  John,  the  sixth  chapter  of 
Ephesians,  the  thirteenth  chapter  of  I  Corinthians  and 
the  twelfth  chapter  of  Romans,  but  the  parables  re- 
corded in  the  first  three  Gospels  have,  ever  since  they 
were  uttered,  occupied  a  place  of  their  own  in  men's 
thoughts.  Qualities  which  these  parables  possess  in  a 
marked  degree,  and  which,  as  has  often  been  said  of 
them,  account  fully  for  the  importance  which  attaches 
to  them,  are  their: — 

1.  Universality.  They  are  true  of  all  men,  at  all  times, 
notwithstanding  the  fact  that  they  originated  in  an  Oriental 
land  many  centuries  ago.  They  are  general,  for  they  do 
not  deal  with  exceptional  or  improbable  cases. 

2.  Brevity.  No  unnecessary  details  are  introduced  and  yet, 
in  every  instance,  we  have  a  perfect  picture,  or  a  complete 
story.  Nothing  needs  to  be  added  to  complete  the  meaning, 
or  could  be  added  without  marring  the  literary  beauty. 

3.  Vividness.  They  are  full  of  action,  which  the  reader  is 
made  to  see  as  though  present  before  his  eyes. 

4.  Appropriateness.  With  all  the  qualities  of  informality, 
as  though  spoken  on  the  instant,  they  are  perfect  in  their 
applicability  as  illustrations  of  spiritual  truths,  so  far  as  it 
is  possible  to  illustrate  them  by  analogies  in  the  material 
world. 

5.  Cheerfulness.  There  is  always  a  way  of  escape.  The 
good  always  equal,  and  in  most  cases  far  outnumber,  the 
wicked.  Hebrew  Literature  "is  man's  great  record  of  hope." 
The  note  of  despair  is  touched  but  never  sustained.^  Only 
one  sheep  of  a  hundred  strayed,  and  he  was  found  and 
brought  back.  Only  one  piece  of  silver  in  ten  was  lost, 
and  it  was  found. 

6.  Familiarity.  All  are  taken  fiom  familiar  scenes  or  cus- 
toms, though  some  not  familiar  to  any  but  an  Oriental — the 

*  For  an  interesting  discussion  of  this  topic  see  The  Spectatoty  London, 
February  3,  1912,  p.  180,  "The  Absence  of  Tragedy  in  Hebrew  Literature." 


276  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

sower,  the  vineyard,  the  beggar,  the  marriage  feast,  the 
barren  tree,  the  Pharisees  and  pubHcans,  the  leaven,  the 
creditors  and  debtors,  the  laws  of  inheritance,  etc. 

7.  Broad  humanity.  They  are  a  rebuke  to  narrowness. 
It  was  not  a  common  thing  for  a  Samaritan  to  help  a  Jew, 
or  a  Jew  a  Samaritan,  but  the  lesson  could  not  be  taught  so 
clearly  in  the  parable  by  having  a  Samaritan  help  a  Samari- 
tan or  a  Jew  help  a  Jew. 

8.  Simplicity.  They  are  direct  in  their  language,  but  fre- 
quently contain  truths  which  can  be  apprehended  only  by 
the  deeper  thinkers,  a  quality  which  the  parables  share  with 
the  apparently  simple  truths  themselves. 

9.  Variety.  The  illustrations  are  presented  in  different 
forms,  several  (e.  g.,  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus,  Luke  16: 
19-31;  the  prodigal  son,  Luke  15:11-32;  the  laborers  in 
the  vineyard,  Matthew  20:1-16;)  contain  dialogues.  In 
Luke  15  we  have  a  series  of  three  parables,  the  lost  sheep, 
the  lost  coin,  the  prodigal  son.  These  exemplify  the 
method  of  Jesus  as  a  teacher.  These  are  not  three  parables, 
each  with  the  same  teaching,  which  is  emphasized  by  being 
presented  from  three  different  angles,  but  there  are  three 
different  truths,  presented,  each  in  a  separate  parable,  and 
all,  taken  together,  set  forth  the  attitude  of  God  to  the 
sinner.  An  Old  Testament  parable  in  the  form  of  an  allegory 
is  Ecclesiastes  12  in  which  the  interpretation  is  not  given. 
Ecclesiastes  9:14-18,  however,  is  the  simple  parable  giving 
a  concrete  example  of  a  general  truth  and  requiring  no  inter- 
pretation. 

The  parables  of  Jesus  vary  in  length  from  a  simple 
simile  such  as  that  of  the  leaven: — "The  kingdom  of 
heaven  is  like  leaven,  wliich  a  woman  took,  and  hid  in 
three  measures  of  meal,  till  it  was  all  leavened, "  Mat- 
thew 13:33,  to  the  story  with  details  like  that  of  the 
good  Samaritan,  Luke  10:30-37,  or,  the  unjust  steward, 
or,  the  rich  man  and  Lazarus,  Luke  16:1-8,  19-31. 


PARABLES  277 

The  parable  is  by  no  means  always  easily  understood. 
This  was  characteristic  of  the  general  indirectness  of 
the  Semitic  mind  and  specific  instances  will  be  found 
in  such  passages  as: — 

"Is  he  not  a  speaker  of  parables?"    Ezekiel  20:49. 

"I  will  open  my  mouth  in  a  parable; 
.  I  will  utter  dark  sayings  of  old, 

Which  we  have  heard  and  known, 

And  our  fathers  have  told  us."    Psalm  78:2,  3. 

"All  these  things  spake  Jesus  in  parables  unto  the  mul- 
titudes; and  without  a  parable  spake  he  nothing  unto  them: 
that  it  might  be  fulfilled  which  was  spoken  through  the 
prophet,  saying, 

*I  will  open  my  mouth  in  parables; 

I  will  utter  things  hidden  from  the  foundation  of  the 
world.'"    Matthew  13:34. 

When  Jesus  told  to  the  multitude  by  the  seaside  the 
parable  of  the  sower,  Matthew  13:1-23,  his  disciples 
asked  him  "Why  speakest  thou  unto  them  in  parables .f*" 
"And  he  answered  and  said  unto  them,  Unto  you  it  is 
given  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
but  to  them  it  is  not  given."  Mark  4:11,  and  Luke  8: 
10,  also  record  this  conversation,  the  meaning  of  which 
seems  to  be  the  same  that  is  emphasized  elsewhere,  as 
in  Isaiah  6:9,  which  Jesus  quotes,  and  in  I  Corinthians 
2:8-10,  that  spiritual  meanings  are  not  clear  to  those 
whose  hearts  have  not  been  opened  to  receive  them. 
A  mystery  was  not  a  thing  that  could  never  be  under- 
stood. The  mysteries  of  Eleusis  were  known,  but  only 
to  the  initiated.  There  is,  in  the  Old  Testament  and 
in  the  New,  a  distinction  made  between  the  initiated 
and  the  uninitiated  in  spiritual  matters,  between  those 
who  know  the  true  God,  Jehovah,  and  those  whose 


278  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"ears  are  dull  of  hearing"  and  whose  eyes  are  "closed." 
Jesus  emphasized,  and  so  did  Paul,  the  idea  that  the 
disciples  had,  what  the  world  in  general  had  not,  the 
knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven : — 

"Things  which  eye  saw  not,  and  ear  heard  not,  .  .  .  But 
unto  us  God  revealed  them  through  the  Spirit."  I  Corin- 
thians 2:9-10. 

The  speaking  in  parables,  which  is  so  often  thought 
of  as  resorted  to  by  Jesus  as  a  means  of  making  truths 
clear  to  the  multitude,  so  that  the  simplest-minded 
could  understand,  is  by  his  own  statement  on  the  sub- 
ject to  be  interpreted  otherwise.  He  uttered  spiritual 
truths  in  such  a  way  that  spiritually-minded  men 
might  receive  them,  and  we  may,  as  an  illustration  of 
this,  quote  from  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount,  the  defi- 
nite injunction  to  keep  sacred  things  sacred,  "Give  not 
that  which  is  holy  unto  the  dogs,  neither  cast  your 
pearls  before  the  swine."  Matthew  y.G,  Not  only  did 
the  disciples  ask  why  he  spoke  in  parables,  but  they 
themselves  did  not  understand  the  meaning  of  the 
parable  of  the  sower,  as  is  shown  by  the  explanation  of 
it  which  Jesus  gave,  and  by  his  questions,  Mark  4:13, 
"Know  ye  not  this  parable.^  And  how  shall  ye  know 
all  the  parables.?",  and  by  his  further  question,  Mat- 
thew 13:51,  "Have  ye  understood  all  these  things .f^ 
They  say  unto  him.  Yea."  In  Matthew  15:15,  16, 
Peter  says  to  Jesus  "Declare  unto  us  the  parable,"  and 
Jesus  replies  "Are  ye  also  even  yet  without  understand- 
ing.?" The  disciples  misunderstood  the  remark  of 
Jesus  about  the  Temple,  "Destroy  this  temple,  and 
in  three  days  I  will  raise  it  up,"  John  2:19,  but  we  can- 
not wonder  that  they  did,  when  we  read  the  context. 

The  teachings  of  Jesus  were  to  be  disseminated  by 


PARABLES  279 

his  disciples  whom  he  was  training  for  their  work. 
There  was  something  esoteric  in  this  relationship  of 
teacher  and  disciples,  by  which  the  latter  were  regarded 
as  distinct  from  the  world,  an  idea,  which,  as  might  be 
expected,  we  find  emphasized  in  John.  "Ye  are  not  of 
the  world,  but  I  chose  you  out  of  the  world" — ^John  15: 
19.  The  likeness  of  relations  in  the  natural  world  to 
those  in  the  spiritual  world  are  often  at  most  only 
analogies.  Paul  meant  this  when  he  said,  I  Corinthians 
2:14,  "Now  the  natural  man  receiveth  not  the  things  of 
the  Spirit  of  God :  .  .  .  and  he  cannot  know  them,  be- 
cause they  are  spiritually  judged. "  That  Jesus  always 
meant  to  reserve  his  meaning  for  the  disciples  only  is  by 
no  means  true,  for  the  whole  purpose  of  the  "Sermon  on 
the  Mount, "  Matthew,  chs.  5-7,  is  that  the  multitude 
should  receive  definite  instruction.  Although  it  was 
addressed  specifically  to  the  disciples,  "the  multitude 
were  astonished  at  his  teaching;  for  he  taught  them  as 
one  having  authority  and  not  as  their  scribes,"  7:28,  29. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

PROPHETS 

The  prophets  were  the  spokesmen  of  Jehovah  to  his 
people.  Man  has  from  the  beginning  beHeved  that 
from  time  to  time  God  speaks  to  him  directly.  The 
Bible  mentions  several  ways  in  which  such  communica- 
tions came: — 

1.  God  spoke  directly,  as  he  did  to  Adam  and  Eve, 
Cain,  Noah,  Abraham,  Moses,  and  Elijah,  and,  in  the  New 
Testament,  to  Jesus,  Peter,  Paul,  and  John. 

2.  God  appeared  as  the  "Angel  of  Jehovah"  and  spoke, 
as  he  did  to  Abraham,  Hagar,  Moses,  the  children  of  Israel 
at  Bochim,  Gideon,  and  the  wife  of  Manoah. 

3.  God  spoke  through  angels,  as  he  did  to  Lot  and  to  Elijah 
and  others,  and  in  the  New  Testament  to  Zacharias,  Mary, 
ComeHus,  Paul  and  John. 

4.  God  spoke  through  the  Urim  and  Thummim  in  Aaron's 
breastplate.^ 

5.  God  spoke  through  dreams  and  visions  as  he  did  to 
Abimelech,  Jacob,  Samuel,  Solomon,  Daniel,  Ezekiel,  the 
prophets,  and,  in  the  New  Testament,  to  Joseph,  the  Wise 
Men,  Peter,  Paul,  John,  Ananias,  Cornelius. 

^  Urim  and  Thummim, literally  "Lights"  and  "Perfections"  were  objects 
of  some  kind,  perhaps  precious  stones,  or  lots,  placed  in  the  breastplate  of 
Aaron  and  his  successors  as  High  Priests.  They  are  mentioned  but  not  defined 
or  explained  in  Exodus  28:30,  Leviticus  8:8,  Numbers  27:21,  Deuteronomy 
^3:8,  Ezra  2:63,  Nehemiah  7:65.  In  the  last  two  passages  the  implication 
IS  clear  that  the  Urim  and  Thummim  had  been  lost.  The  actual  use  of  them 
appears  in  several  places  in  the  historical  books,  e.  g.,  I  Samuel  14:36^ 
Note  the  marginal  reading  to  verse  41,  "Give  a  perfect  lot."  See  also 
I  Samuel  28:6. 


PROPHETS  281 

6.  God  spoke  through  the  prophets,  to  whom  he  spoke  in 
visions,  by  angels,  and  directly. 

7.  God  spoke  through  his  Son  in  the  New  Testament. 
Hebrews  1:1-14. 

With  this  belief  that  God  speaks  to  men  was  also  a 
belief  that  spirits  may  speak  to  men  and  that  the  souls 
of  the  dead  may  communicate  with  the  living  through 
some  intermediary,  such  as  the  woman  of  Endor, 
through  whom  Saul  talked  with  Samuel.  The  desire  to 
know  what  the  future  holds  in  store  is  always  present, 
and,  upon  this  human  weakness,  frauds  and  fakirs 
grew  rich  in  olden  times  as  now.  The  true  prophet  of 
Jehovah  was  in  constant  competition  with  the  false 
prophet,  the  sorcerer  and  the  magician. 

When  Zacharias  "prophesied"  on  the  occasion  of 
the  circumcision 'and  naming  of  John,  Luke  1:67-79, 
he  spoke  of  "the  holy  prophets  that  have  been  from 
of  old."  Abraham  is  called  a  prophet  in  Genesis  20:7. 
The  Lord  says  to  Moses: — 

"I  will  send  thee  unto  Pharoah,  that  thou  mayest  bring 
forth  my  people  the  children  of  Israel,  out  of  Egypt."  Exodus 
3:10. 

Moses  doubts  whether  either  the  children  of  Israel  or 
Pharaoh  will  listen  to  him,  much  less  obey  his  com- 
mands, because  he  is  "not  eloquent"  but  "slow  of 
speech,  and  of  a  slow  tongue."  Exodus  4:10.  The 
Lord  is  angry  at  Moses  and  tells  him  that  Aaron  his 
brother  who  "can  speak  well"  shall  act  as  spokesman 
and  Moses  shall  be  to  him  instead  of  God  "Aaron 
thy  brother  shall  be  thy  prophet."  Exodus  7.  i.  Moses 
is  called  a  prophet  in  Deuteronomy  34:10.  In  this 
narrative    we    have    the    office    and    function   of    the 


282  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

prophet  clearly  set  forth.  He  was  the  spokesman  of 
God,  and  his  authority  as  such  is  indicated  by  the  words 
"Thus  saith  the  Lord"  with  which  his  message  fre- 
quently began.  He  spoke  not  his  own  thoughts  but 
God's  thoughts,  and  this  fact  distinguishes  his  utter- 
ances from  other  speeches  of  men.  A  personal  God 
spoke  through  a  person  to  his  children,  and  any 
through  whom  he  spoke  was,  for  the  time  being  at 
least,  a  prophet.  This  personal  relationship  of  Jehovah 
to  his  children  is  a  remarkable  feature  of  the  Jewish 
conception  of  God.  Anyone,  no  matter  what  his  rank 
or  class,  might  at  any  time  be  called  to  be  a  prophet  of 
Jehovah.  We  read  in  I  Kings  19:19  that  Elijah  found 
Elisha  plowing  with  a  yoke  of  oxen,  which  he  imme- 
diately left  when  Elijah  cast  his  mantle  over  him,  thus 
calling  him  into  service,  as  his  companion,  who  was  to 
be  his  great  successor.    Amos  tells  us  that  he  was : — 

"no  prophet,  neither  was  I  a  prophet's  son;  but  I  was  a 
herdsman,  and  a  dresser  of  sycomore-trees:  and  Jehovah 
took  me  from  following  the  flock,  and  Jehovah  said  unto  me. 
Go,  prophesy  unto  my  people  Israel."    Amos  7:14,  15. 

Moses  warns  Israel,  Deuteronomy  13:1,  against  false 
prophets,  dreamers  of  dreams,  who  might  even  give 
"a  sign  or  a  wonder"  as  did  the  "wise  men,"  "sorcer- 
ers" and  "magicians  of  Egypt,"  Exodus  7:11,  whose 
deeds  and  words  were  not  from  the  Lord.  Magicians, 
wizards,  etc.,  are  the  subjects  of  warnings  in  the  Old 
Testament  and  the  New,  as  in  I  Samuel  15:23  and 
Galatians  5 :20.  Various  kinds  of  persons  who  professed, 
and  were  believed  to  possess,  supernatural  powers  are 
mentioned,  such  as  sorcerers,  magicians,  wizards,  en- 
chanters, witches,  those  who  possessed  familiar  spirits, 
etc.    With  all  of  these,  the  Israelites  were  forbidden  to 


PROPHETS  283 

have  dealings,  and  that  they  believed  in  the  reality  of 
such  supernatural  powers  is  unquestioned.  Acts  8:10, 
II.  Communion  with  spirits  was  professed  in  Egypt 
and  Babylonia  as  well  as  in  Palestine,  and  magic  and 
prophetic  power  are  found  in  open  competition  with 
each  other  in  such  contests  as  that  of  Moses  and  Aaron 
with  the  magicians  of  Egypt,  Exodus  7:11,  Elijah  with 
the  prophets  of  Baal,  I  Kings  18:19-40,  Daniel  with  the 
Chaldeans,  Daniel  2,  Simon  the  Sorcerer  with  Philip, 
Acts  8:9-13,  Paul  with  Elymas,  Acts  13:8-11.  Read 
also  in  Acts  19:11-20  how  Paul  was  the  means  of  driv- 
ing exorcists  away,  or  of  causing  them  to  give  up  their 
practices.  There  were  prophets  of  other  gods,  and 
there  were  also  false  prophets  of  Jehovah,  who  may 
have  been  sincere,  but  mistaken.  The  people  were 
warned  against  all  such. 

An  extraordinary  scene  is  described: — 

"Now  the  king  of  Israel  [Ahab]  and  Jehoshaphat  the  king 
of  Judah  sat  each  on  his  throne,  arrayed  in  their  robes,  and 
they  were  sitting  in  an  open  place  at  the  entrance  of  the  gate 
of  Samaria;  and  all  the  prophets  were  prophesying  before 
them."     II  Chronicles  18:9. 

"All  the  prophets''  foretold  victory  at  Ramoth- 
Gilead,  but  Micaiah,  who  was  hated  by  Ahab,  because 
he  always  prophesied  evil,  foretold  on  this  occasion 
the  death  of  Ahab.  The  prophesy  of  Micaiah  was  in 
the  form  of  two  visions,  one,  the  battle,  the  other  a 
vision  of  what  had  occurred  in  the  council  of  Jehovah 
in  heaven  at  which  the  death  of  Ahab  was  deliberately 
planned.  This  scene  resembles  the  opening  scenes  in 
Job:- 

"And  Micaiah  said,  Therefore  hear  ye  the  word  of  Jehovah : 
I  saw  Jehovah  sitting  upon  his  throne,  and  all  the  host  of 


284  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

heaven  standing  on  his  right  hand  and  on  his  left.  And 
Jehovah  said,  Who  shall  entice  Ahab  king  of  Israel,  that  he 
may  go  up  and  fall  at  Ramoth-gilead  ? "  II  Chronicles 
18:18-19. 

Here  we  have  prophets  of  Jehovah  to  the  number  of 
four  hundred,  v. 5,  prophesying,  but  their  prophecy  is 
contradicted  in  part  by  that  of  Micaiah,  who  for  the 
contradiction  is  attacked  by  Zedekiah  who  had  proph- 
esied victory,  v.  10: — 

"Then  Zedekiah  the  son  of  Chenaanah  came  near,  and 
srriote  Micaiah  upon  the  cheek,'  and  said,  Which  way  went 
the  Spirit  of  Jehovah  from  me  to  speak  unto  thee?  And 
Micaiah  said,  Behold,  thou  shalt  see  on  that  day,  when  thou 
shalt  go  into  an  inner  chamber  to  hide  thyself."  II  Chronicles 
18:23,  24. 

This  account  of  the  relations  between  Ahab  and 
Micaiah,  and  the  corresponding,  almost  identical,  pas- 
sage in  I  Kings,  ch.  22,  suggest  interesting  questions 
concerning  prophets  in  Palestine.  That  there  were  pro- 
fessional prophets,  and  that  there  were  bands  of  proph- 
ets, I  Samuel  10:5,  companies  of  prophets,  I  Samuel  19: 
20,  and  groups  calling  themselves  "sons  of  prophets," 
II  Kings  2:3,  we  know.  In  I  Kings  18:4  we  read  that 
Obadiah,  who  "feared  Jehovah  greatly"  "took  a  hun- 
dred prophets,  and  hid  them  by  fifty  in  a  cave,  and  fed 
them  with  bread  and  water"  to  save  them  from  star- 
vation during  a  famine.  Prophets  were  not  only 
teachers  of  the  law,  but,  as  I  Samuel  10:5  indicates, 
men  upon  whom  "the  spirit  of  Jehovah"  came.  An 
editorial  note  states  that: — 

"Beforetime  in  Israel,  when  a  man  went  to  inquire  of  God, 
thus  he  said,  Come  and  let  us  go  to  the  seer;  for  he  that  is 


PROPHETS  285 

now  called   a   Prophet  was  beforetime  called   a  Seer."     I 
Samuel  9:9. 

The  following  passage  is  of  great  interest  in  this 
connection : — 

"Now  David  fled,  and  escaped,  and  came  to  Samuel  to 
Ramah,  and  told  him  all  that  Saul  had  done  to  him.  And  he 
and  Samuel  went  and  dwelt  in  Naioth.  And  it  was  told  Saul, 
saying,  Behold  David  is  at  Naioth  in  Ramah.  And  Saul 
sent  messengers  to  take  David :  and  when  they  saw  the  com- 
pany of  the  prophets  prophesying,  and  Samuel  standing  as 
head  over  them,  the  Spirit  ot  God  came  upon  the  messengers 
of  Saul,  and  they  also  prophesied.  And  when  it  was  told  Saul, 
he  sent  other  messengers,  and  they  also  prophesied.  And  Saul 
sent  messengers  again  the  third  time,  and  they  also  proph- 
esied. .  .  .  And  he  [Saul]  went  thither  to  Naioth  in  Ramah: 
and  the  Spirit  of  God  came  upon  him  also,  and  he  went  on, 
and  prophesied,  until  he  came  to  Naioth  in  Ramah.  And 
he  also  stripped  off  his  clothes,  and  he  also  prophesied  before 
Samuel,  and  lay  down  naked  all  that  day  and  all  that  night. 
Wherefore  they  say,  *Is  Saul  also  among  the  prophets?'" 
I  Samuel  19:18-24. 

In  Numbers  1 1 :26  we  read  of  Eldad  and  Medad  upon 
whom  **the  Spirit  rested"  .  .  .  and  they  prophesied 
in  the  camp ' '  A  passage,  in  which  groups  of  prophets 
figure,  is  found  in  II  Kings  2,  where  "the  sons  of  the 
prophets"  tell  Elisha,  what  he  already  knew,  that 
Jehovah  would  take  Elijah  away  that  day.  Upon 
Elisha  descended  the  mantle  of  Elijah: — 

"And  when  the  sons  of  the  prophets  that  were  at  Jericho 
over  against  him  saw  him,  they  said.  The  spirit  of  Elijah 
doth  rest  on  Elisha."    II  Kings  2:15. 

A  little  later  on  we  find  Elisha  saying  to  Jehoram 
king  of  Israel: — 


286  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"What  have  I  to  do  with  thee?  get  thee  to  the  prophets 
of  thy  father,  and  to  the  prophets  of  thy  mother."  II  Kings 
3:13- 

Elijah  had  denounced  the  sin  of  Ahab,  the  father  of 
Jehoram,  and  had  been  persecuted  by  Jezebel  the  wife  of 
Ahab. 

After  the  patriarchs  and  judges  came  kings,  and 
with  the  kings  came  prophets,  whose  function  was  to  ad- 
vise or  to  rebuke  the  kings,  priests,  and  people  when  they 
failed  to  follow  the  laws  of  Jehovah.  Samuel  rebuked 
the  aged  Eli,  whose  family  of  priests  had  fallen  away 
from  the  proper  worship  of  Jehovah,  which  had  been 
allowed  to  decay,  and  became  the  spokesman  of  Jeho- 
vah to  all  Israel.  The  prosperity  and  happiness  of  the 
nations  were  shown  by  Samuel  to  depend  upon  the 
loyal  worship  of  Jehovah.  One  of  the  most  important 
functions  of  the  prophet  was  that  of  preserving  the  re- 
ligion of  Israel  from  decay  through  neglect,  and  from 
corruption  as  a  result  of  the  introduction  of  foreign 
practices,  or  the  worship  of  false  gods.  There  are  many 
passages  dealing  with  this,  one  of  the  most  suggestive 
being  the  following,  which  indicates  the  constant  strug- 
gle that  went  on  between  those  who  were  loyal  to  Jeho- 
vah and  those,  who,  yielding  to  the  desires  of  the  people, 
or  following  their  own  desires,  established  idolatry: — 

"For  he  [Manasseh]  built  again  the  high-places  which 
Hezekiah,  his  father,  had  destroyed;  and  he  reared  up  altars 
for  Baal,  and  made  an  Asherah,  as  did  Ahab  king  of  Israel, 
and  worshipped  all  the  host  of  heaven,  and  served  them. 
And  he  built  altars  in  the  house  of  Jehovah,  whereof  Jehovah 
said,  In  Jerusalem  will  I  put  my  name.  And  he  built  altars 
for  all  the  host  of  heaven  in  the  two  courts  of  the  house  of 
Jehovah.  And  he  made  his  son  to  pass  through  the  fire,  and 
practised  augury,  and  used  enchantments,  and  dealt  with 


PROPHETS  287 

them  that  had  familiar  spirits,  and  with  wizards:  he  wrought 
much  evil  in  the  sight  of  Jehovah,  to  provoke  him  to  anger. 
And  he  set  the  graven  image  of  Asherah,  that  he  had  made, 
in  the  house  of  which  Jehovah  said  to  David  and  to  Solomon 
his  son,  In  this  house,  and  in  Jerusalem,  which  I  have  chosen 
out  of  all  the  tribes  of  Israel,  will  I  put  my  name  forever." 
II  Kings  21:3-7. 

Job  declared  of  himself  that  he  had  not  been  secretly 
enticed  to  worship  the  sun  and  moon,  the  worship  of 
which  was  introduced  from  Assyria,  Job  3 1 126-27,  ^^^ 
is  referred  to  in  Deuteronomy  4:19  and  17:3. 

Four  centuries  earlier  than  Manasseh,  Saul  had  "put 
away  those  that  had  familiar  spirits,  and  the  wizards 
out  of  the  land,"  but  had  himself  consulted  the  witch 
of  Endor  for  the  purpose  of  communicating  with  Sam- 
uel, after  Jehovah  had  given  him  no  answer  "neither 
by  dreams,  nor  by  Urim,  nor  by  prophets."  I  Samuel 
28:6.  This  struggle  against  sorcery  and  idolatry  of  all 
kinds  was  practically  ceaseless.  In  consequence  of 
failure  to  recognize  this  condition  of  affairs,  we  often 
do  not  appreciate  the  reason  for  the  vehemence  of  the 
prophets,  who,  as  the  spokesmen  of  Jehovah  seem  at 
times  to  have  been  almost  the  only  men  that  kept  alive 
faith  in  the  living  God: — 

"Yet  Jehovah  testified  unto  Israel,  and  unto  Judah,  by 
every  prophet,  and  every  seer,  saying,  Turn  ye  from  your 
evil  ways,  and  keep  my  commandments  and  my  statutes, 
according  to  all  the  law  which  I  commanded  your  fathers, 
and  which  I  sent  you  by  my  servants  the  prophets."  II 
Kings  17:13. 

The  influence  of  the  prophets  on  surrounding  nations 
is  shown  by  the  story  of  Naaman  the  leper: — 


288  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Now  Naaman,  captain  of  the  host  of  the  king  of  Syria, 
was  a  great  man  with  his  master,  and  honorable  because 
by  him  Jehovah  had  given  victory  unto  Syria:  he  was  also 
a  mighty  man  of  valor,  but  he  was  a  leper.  And  the  Syrians 
had  gone  out  in  bands,  and  had  brought  away  captive  out  of 
the  land  of  Israel  a  little  maiden;  and  she  waited  on  Naaman's 
wife.  And  she  said  unto  her  mistress,  Would  that  my  lord 
were  with  the  prophet  [Elisha]  that  is  in  Samaria!  then  would 
he  recover  him  of  his  leprosy."  "...  and  his  flesh  came 
again  like  unto  the  flesh  of  a  little  child,  and  he  was  clean. 
And  he  returned  to  the  man  of  God  [Elisha],  he  and  all  his 
company,  and  came,  and  stood  before  him;  and  he  said, 
Behold  now,  I  know  that  there  is  no  God  in  all  the  earth,  but 
in  Israel."    II  Kings  5:1,  2,  3,  14,  15. 

It  is  shown  also  by  the  story  of  Jonah,  the  only  in- 
stance in  which  a  prophet  of  Jehovah  was  sent  to  an- 
other people.^ 

The  surrounding  nations  were  given  to  all  kinds  of 
idolatry,  sorcery,  and  wizardry,  and  these  were  contin- 
ually appearing  among  the  Israelites,  displacing  the  wor- 
ship of  Jehovah.  The  numerous  references  to  idols 
and  Idolatry  throughout  the  Old  Testament  are  pro- 
tests against  actual  practices  of  the  Jews.  In  the  New 
Testament  also,  idols  and  idolatry  are  mentioned  as 
things  against  which  Christians  must  be  on  their  guard. 
I  John  ends  with  "Little  children  guard  yourselves 
from  idols,"  5:21,  and  I  Corinthians,  ch.  8,  is  a  discus- 
sion of  "things  sacrificed  to  idols,"  concerning  which 
there  were  doubts  and  questionings  in  the  church  at 
Corinth.  Against  a  dark  background  must  the  prophet 
be  studied.  To  kings  and  priests  alike  he  delivered  his 
message  "Thus  saith  the  Lord."    His  words  were  a  con- 

*  See  p.  172.  The  prophets  spoke  concerning  the  fates  of  other  nations, 
as  in  Isaiah,  chs.  13,  15,  19. 


PROPHETS  289 

stant  corrective  and  a  powerful  rebuke.  The  stories  of 
the  relations  of  Samuel  to  Saul,  Nathan  to  David,  Elijah 
and  Micaiah  to  Ahab,  Elisha  to  Jehu,  Isaiah  to  Ahaz 
and  Hezekiah  are  familiar.  The  prophet  fearlessly 
rebuked  the  king.  Not  all  of  the  great  prophets 
left  writings,  and  not  all  of  the  prophetic  books  bear 
the  names  of  men  who  are  mentioned  in  the  his- 
torical writings.  Some  prophets  left  books  that  are 
no  longer  extant,  among  these  was  Nathan,^  who 
played  such  an  important  part  in  the  reign  of  David, 
and  through  whom  Jehovah  communicated  to  David 
the  plan  for  building  the  Temple.  II  Samuel,  ch.  7, 
I  Chronicles,  ch.  17. 

Owing  to  the  meaning  now  attached  to  the  word 
"prophet,"  we  often  think  of  the  function  of  the  proph- 
ets in  the  Bible  as  being  that  of  foretelling  future  events,  ^ 
which  they  frequently  did,  but  this  was  only  inci- 
dentally a  part  of  their  duties.  In  the  New  Testament, 
I  Corinthians  14:3,  Christian  teachers  are  said  to 
prophesy  when  they  speak  to  men  "edification,  and  ex- 
hortation and  consolation."  See  also  Acts  15:32.  The 
fact  that  the  early  historical  books  are  included  by  the 
Jews  in  the  Prophets  or  second  collection  of  scrip- 
tures indicates  a  broader  meaning  for  the  Hebrew  nabi, 
which  the  Septuagint  rendered  prophetes.  The  nahi  was 
a  spokesman  or  representative,  who  came  to  the  king 
or  to  the  people  with  "Thus  saith  the  Lord." 

Comment  on  current  events  forms  a  considerable 
part  of  the  utterances  of  the  prophets.  Obadiah,  for 
example,  is  a  denunciation  of  the  Edomites  for  their 
cruelty  and  enmity  against  Jerusalem  when  the  latter 
was  suffering  from  invasion : — 

*  The  book  of  Nathan  is  mentioned  in  I  Chronicles  29:29,  II  Chronicles 
9:29. 


290  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

**But  look  not  thou  [Edom]  on  the  day  of  thy  brother  in 
the  day  of  his  disaster, 

And  rejoice  not  over  the  children  of  Judah  in  the  day  of 
their  destruction; 

Neither  speak  proudly  in  the  day  of  distress. 

Enter  not  into  the  gate  of  my  people  in  the  day  of  their 
calamity; 

Yea,  look  not  thou  on  their  affliction  in  the  day  of  their 
calamity, 

Neither  lay  ye  hands  on  their  substance  in  the  day  of  their 
calamity. 

And  stand  thou  not  in  the  crossway,  to  cut  off  those  of  his 
that  escape; 

And  deliver  not  up  those  of  his  that  remain  in  the  day 
of  distress. 

For  the  day  of  Jehovah  is  near  upon  all  the  nations: 

As  thou  hast  done,  it  shall  be  done  unto  thee; 

Thy  dealing  shall  return  upon  thine  own  head."  Obadiah, 
vs.  12-15. 

Haggai  deals  chiefly  with  the  rebuilding  of  the 
Temple,  which  had  been  neglected,  although  the  Jews 
had  been  back  in  Jerusalem  for  some  years  after  the 
Babylonian  captivity,  and  had  rebuilt  their  own 
houses : — 

"Is  it  a  time  for  you  yourselves  to  dwell  in  your  ceiled 
houses,  while  this  house  lieth  waste.?  .  .  .  Thus  saith 
Jehovah  of  hosts:  Consider  your  ways.  Go  up  to  the  moun- 
tain, and  bring  wood,  and  build  the  house;  and  I  will  take 
pleasure  in  it,  and  I  will  be  glorified,  saith  Jehovah.  .  .  . 
Who  is  left  among  you  that  saw  this  house  in  its  former  glory? 
and  how  do  ye  see  it  now?  is  it  not  in  your  eyes  as  noth- 
ing? .  .  .  The  latter  glory  of  this  house  shall  be  greater 
than  the  former,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts;  and  in  this  place 
will  I  give  peace,  saith  Jehovah  of  hosts.'*  Haggai  i  :4,  7, 
8;  2:3,9. 


PROPHETS  291 

Amos  denounces  Israel  for  sins,  and  commands  the 
people  to  return  to  Jehovah  lest  terrible  calamities 
overtake  them.  Hosea  pleads  with  Israel  to  return  to 
righteousness.  He  emphasizes  the  love  of  Jehovah  for 
his  people  even  though,  like  an  unfaithful  wife,  they 
have  deserted  him: — 

"When  Israel  was  a  child,  then  I  loved  him. 

And  called  my  son  out  of  Egypt.    Hosea  11  :i.  .  .  . 

0  Israel,  return  unto  Jehovah  thy  God; 
For  thou  hast  fallen  by  thine  iniquity. 

Take  with  you  words,  and  return  unto  Jehovah: 

Say  unto  him,  *Take  away  all  iniquity. 

And  accept  that  which  is  good  .  .  . 

For  in  thee  the  fatherless  findeth  mercy.'"    Hosea  14:1,  3. 

"I  will  heal  their  backsliding, 

1  will  love  them  freely; 

For  mine  anger  is  turned  away  from  him. 
I  will  be  as  the  dew  unto  Israel; 
He  shall  blossom  as  the  lily, 
And  cast  forth  his  roots  as  Lebanon.  .  .  . 
They  that  dwell  under  his  shadow  shall  return; 
They  shall  revive  as  the  grain, 
And  blossom  as  the  vine: 

The  scent  thereof  shall  be  as  the  wine  of  Lebanon."  Hosea 
H'4y  S>  7- 

Nahum  pronounces  doom  on  Nineveh  and  declares 
that  Judah  shall  prosper  if  her  vows  are  performed: — 

"And  Jehovah  hath  given  commandment  concerning  thee 
[Nineveh], 

That  no  more  of  thy  name  be  sown: 

Out  of  the  house  of  thy  gods  will  I  cut  off  the  graven  image 
and  the  molten  image; 

I  will  make  thy  grave;  for  thou  art  vile.  Behold,  upon 
the  mountains  the  feet  of  him  that  bringeth  good  tidings, 


292  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

That  publisheth  peace! 

Keep  thy  feasts,  O  Judah, 

Perform  thy  vows; 

For  the  wicked  one  shall  no  more  pass  through  thee; 

He  is  utterly  cut  off."    Nahum  1 114,  15. 


The  utterances  of  the  prophets  were  influenced  by 
the  conditions  which  they  saw  and  foresaw  among  the 
people.  To  the  sinner  the  prophet  spoke  words  of 
warning.  To  the  righteous  words  of  encouragement. 
To  all,  words  of  invitation  to  faith  in  the  justice  and 
mercy  of  Jehovah.  Distress  and  calamity  are  the  di- 
rect result  of  neglect  of  Jehovah's  copimandments,  with 
punishment  and  national  destruction  ahead,  unless  sin 
and  idolatry  are  abandoned  and  the  worship  of  Jehovah 
restored.  The  prophets  uttered  religious  teachings  of  a 
more  deeply  spiritual  kind  than  even  those  of  the  objec- 
tive, symbolic  ritual  of  the  Temple.  The  moral  govern- 
ment of  Jehovah,  which  cannot  be  evaded,  is  the  truth 
upon  which  they  are  ever  insisting.  Things  happen 
because  Jehovah  wills,  and  all  men  are  directly  answer- 
able to  him  for  their  conduct.  The  services  of  the 
ritual  were  largely  penitential,  to  secure  forgiveness  for 
sin  committed.  The  message  of  the  prophets  is  to 
inspire  men  so  that  they  will  not  commit  sin,  by  warn- 
ing them  of  the  consequences,  and  by  reciting  to  them 
the  happiness  that  may  be  theirs  if  they  will  only  re- 
main faithful  to  Jehovah. 

The  great  event  that  divides  Jewish  history  into 
two  parts  is  the  capture  of  Jerusalem  by  Nebuchad- 
nezzar in  586  B.  c,  and  the  captivity,  which  did  not 
end  until  536  b.  c.  when  the  Jews  were  allowed  to  re- 
turn to  Jerusalem,  as  told  in  the  books  of  Ezra  and 
Nehemiah.     Pre-exilic   and   post-exilic  are  terms   ap- 


PROPHETS  293 

plied  to  writings  of  the  Old  Testament,  particularly  the 
prophets.  Some  of  the  books  cannot  be  dated  with 
accuracy,  while  others  indicate  clearly  the  time  to 
which  they  are  to  be  assigned.  An  instance  in  which 
one  book  of  prophecy  is  quoted  in  another  in  the  Old 
Testament  is  Jeremiah  26:18  where  Micah  3:12  is 
quoted  and  named.  Jeremiah  25:11  is  quoted  and  the 
prophet  named  in  Daniel 9:2,  a  book  of   the   Writings.^ 

The  pre-exilic  prophets  were  Isaiah,  Jeremiah,  Hosea, 
Joel,  Amos,  Jonah,  Micah,  Nahum,  Habakkuk,  Zeph- 
aniah.  The  post-exilic  were,  Ezekiel,  Daniel,  Obadiah, 
Haggai,  Zachariah,  Malachi. 

Doubt  is  expressed  by  some  as  to  whether  Jonah  may 
not  be  a  late  book  telling  an  ancient  story,  and  whether 
Daniel  is  really  prophecy,  or  simply  history  written  in 
the  form  of  prophecy,  and  whether  Joel  is  pre-exilic. 
In  fact,  there  are  many  differences  of  opinion  among 
scholars  as  to  events  referred  to  by  the  prophets,  but 
the  consensus  of  opinion  Is  represented  In  the  group- 
ing given.  The  fact  that  Daniel  was  placed  by  the  Jews 
not  among  the  Prophets  but  in  the  Writings  or  third 
collection,  although  Ezekiel  Is  among  the  Prophets, 
may  indicate  that  Daniel  was  regarded  by  them  as 
a  later  book. 

The  books  of  the  prophets  contain  history,  oracles 
or  burdens,  poems,  and  prayers.  Isaiah  divides  at  ch. 
40,  the  portion,  chs.  40-66  consisting  of  a  series  of 
visions  constituting  a  dramatic  poem,  "The  Servant 
of  the  Lord,"  or  "Israel's  Restoration."  This  division 
of  the  book  is  referred  to  "Second  Isaiah,"  as  distin- 
guished from  "First  Isaiah,"  chs.  1-35,  a  collection  of 

^  Instances  of  the  use  of  the  same  material,  or  of  earlier  material,  are  found 
in  Jeremiah  48:29,  30  and  Isaiah  16:6;  Jeremiah  49:27  and  Amos  1:4;  Isaiah 
a^,  Micah  4:3,  with  which  compare  also  Joel  3:10. 


294  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

prophecies  or  "burdens"  dealing  not  only  with  Judah 
and  Israel,  but  also  with  other  nations.  Between  these 
two  parts  of  the  book  are  some  historical  chapters, 
36-39,  containing  the  same  matter  as  II  Kings  18:13- 
20:19.  In  this  passage  in  Isaiah  is  preserved  a  poem  of 
Hezekiah  that  is  not  found  elsewhere.  This  historical 
passage  related  events  in  which  Isaiah  was  involved. 
In  a  similar  way  Jeremiah,  ch.  52,  was  taken  from  II 
Kings  24:18-25:29,  because  Jeremiah  sent  to  Babylon 
by  Seraiah  a  book  "even  all  these  words  that  are  writ- 
ten concerning  Babylon"  and  commanded  him  to  read 
it  In  Babylon  and  then  cast  it  into  the  Euphrates. 
Other  books  of  the  prophets  contain  collections,  and 
are  not  continuous  works.  The  prayer  of  Jonah  and 
the  prayer  of  Habakkuk  are  poems  quite  distinct  from 
their  setting.  The  phrases  of  Jonah  are  nearly  all 
found  In  the  Psalms.  The  Lamentations  is  a  group  of 
live  poems,  each  of  which  is  a  lament  over  the  calamities 
that  had  fallen  upon  Judah,  and  Jerusalem.^  The  first 
four  are  alphabetical. 

Much  of  the  writings  of  the  prophets  Is  concerned 
directly  with  the  destruction  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
events  which  immediately  preceded  or  followed  it, 
all  being  attributed  to  the  sin  of  Israel  and  the  con- 
sequent displeasure  of  Jehovah.  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah 
cry  out  against  abuses  of  all  kinds,  which  were  to  lead 
to  national  calamity.  Daniel  and  Ezeklel  write  in  cap- 
tivity in  Babylonia.  Haggai  and  Zechariah  speak  of 
the  return  and  the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple,  of  which 
Ezra  and  Nehemlah  contain  accounts. 

The  reestablishment  of  the  Jewish  state  and  religion 

^  There  is  in  the  Old  Testament  no  statement  as  to  the  authorship  of  these 
poems,  but  they  have  been  attributed  to  Jeremiah.  The  Septuagint  con- 
tains a  prefatory  note  which  states  that  "Jeremiah  sat  weeping  and  lamented 
this  lament  over  Jerusalem." 


PROPHETS  295 

after  the  long  captivity  was  no  easy  task.  The  prophets 
then,  as  at  other  times,  acted  as  the  conscience  of  the 
nation.  What  they  said  was  to  their  own  generation, 
though  often  of  general  applicability,  because  voicing 
moral  truths.  At  times,  it  is  not  easy  to  separate  the 
eternal  and  permanent  from  the  temporary  and  tran- 
sient, and  it  is  quite  possible  to  read  into  a  prophet's 
words,  meanings  of  which  he  was  himself  unaware. 

Some  of  the  prophecies  are  in  the  form  of  visions  or 
revelations,  some  are  simple  messages,  others  are  bur- 
dens, or  oracles,  such  as  are  found  in  Nahum,  Habakkuk, 
Malachi  and  the  first  part  of  Isaiah.  Some  are  dreams 
or  visions  at  night,  as  In  Daniel  and  Zechariah.  In  all 
cases  the  prophets  believed  themselves  to  be  the  bearers 
of  messages  from  Jehovah  to  the  people  or  to  indi- 
viduals. Sometimes  the  prophet  delivered  a  message 
in  words  communicated  to  him  by  Jehovah.  Some- 
times he  described  what  he  saw  In  a  vision. 

The  Hebrew  collection  of  the  Prophets  closes  with 
Malachi,  and  that  book  ends  with  a  prophecy  of  the 
return  of  Elijah  the  prophet: — 

"Behold,  I  will  send  you  Elijah  the  prophet 
Before  the  great  and  terrible  day  of  Jehovah  come. 
And  he  shall  turn  the  heart  of  the  fathers  to  the  children, 
And  the  heart  of  the  children  to  their  fathers; 
Lest  I  come  and  smite  the  earth  with  a  curse.'*    Malachi 
3:23-24. 

It  Is  the  fulfilment  of  this  prophecy  that  is  associated 
in  the  New  Testament  with  the  preaching  of  John  the 
Baptist,  who  came,  like  an  Old  Testament  prophet, 
saying: — 

"Repent  ye;  for  the  kingdom  of  heaven  is  at  hand."  Mat- 
thew 3 :2. 


296  A    BOOK   ABOUT    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

and  who  was  himself  identified  by  Jesus,  who  quotes 
Malachi  3:1,  as  the  messenger  of  God  sent  to  prepare 
the   way : — 

"And  if  ye  are  willing  to  receive  it,  this  is  Elijah,  that  is 
to  come."    Matthew  1 1  :i^. 

John  had  said  to  the  messengers  of  the  priests  that 
he  was  not  Elijah.  John  1:21.  The  angel  who  foretold 
to  Zacharias  the  birth  of  John  quotes  from  Malachi 
4:6,  and  says  that  John  shall  go  "in  the  spirit  and 
power  of  Elijah."  Luke  1:16,  17.  The  coming  of 
Elijah  is  spoken  of  in  Mark  9:4-13,  after  he  had  ap- 
peared with  Moses  on  the  Mount  of  Transfiguration. 
Moses  and  Elijah  had  both  been  taken  away  by  Jeho- 
vah.   They  both  reappeared. 

Both  Jesus  and  John  are  called  prophets,  Luke  7:16, 
26,  the  people  saying,  after  the  raising  of  the  son  of  the 
widow  of  Nain : — 

"A  great  prophet  is  arisen  among  us:  and  God  hath  visited 
his  people."    Luke  7:16. 

After  the  crucifixion  Jesus  is  referred  to  as : — 

"Jesus  the  Nazarene,  who  was  a  prophet  mighty  in  deed 
and  word  before  God  and  all  the  people."    Luke  24:19. 

The  woman  at  the  well  said  to  Jesus : — 

"I  perceive  thou  art  a  prophet."    John  4:19. 

After  the  miracle  of  feeding  the  five  thousand  the 
people  said: — 

"This  is  of  a  truth  the  prophet  that  cometh  into  the  world." 
John  6:14, 


PROPHETS  297 

a  statement  repeated  In  John  7:40,  but  the  truth  of  it 
is  questioned  by  the  officers,  John  7:52,  who  declare 
that  "out  of  GaHlee  ariseth  no  prophet."  The  unus- 
ual words  and  deeds  of  both  John  the  Baptist  and 
Jesus  caused  them  to  be  regarded  as  prophets,  and  in 
Matthew  13:57,  Mark  6:4  and  John  4:44,  Jesus  quotes 
the  proverb: — 

"A  prophet  is  not  without  honor,  save  in  his  own  country, 
and  in  his  own  house.'* 

In  the  case  of  John  the  Baptist  it  was  evidently  his 
preaching  of  repentance  that  caused  him  to  be  called  a 
prophet.  With  Jesus  it  was  his  miracles,  as  well  as  his 
teachings.  Both  of  these  were  characteristic  of  the  Old 
Testament  prophets,  who  not  only  preached,  but  also 
performed  signs  and  wonders.  The  belief  of,  the  Evan- 
gelists, and  of  early  Christians  In  general,  that  the  com- 
ing of  John  and  Jesus  was  the  fulfilment  of  the  proph- 
ecy with  which  the  Prophets  closed,  is  the  connecting 
link  between  the  Old  Testament  and  the  New.  The 
belief  that  all  Messianic  prophecy  was  fulfilled,  or 
would  be  fulfilled,  in  Jesus,  and  that  he  was  the  Christ 
predicted  of  old,  made  one,  in  the  minds  of  Christians 
of  the  early  and  succeeding  centuries,  the  sixty-six 
books,  thirty-nine  of  the  Jewish  scriptures  of  the  Old 
Covenant  or  Testament,  and  twenty-seven  of  the 
Christian  scriptures  of  the  New,  which  ultimately  came 
to  be  known  as  the  Bible. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

LETTERS  AND  HOMILIES 

The  Bible  is  a  book,  the  contents  of  which  are  ex- 
traordinarily adapted  to  being  read  aloud.  The  short 
simple  sentences,  the  picturesque  language,  the  story- 
telling, the  rhythm  of  the  poetry  and  also  of  the  prose, 
even  in  the  translation,  are  such  that  the  mind  can 
easily  grasp  and  remember  the  meaning,  and  the 
imagination  reproduce  the  scene.  Ancient  writings 
existed  in  only  a  limited,  though  sometimes  consider- 
able, number  of  copies,  and  knowledge  of  their  contents 
on  the  part  of  the  many  was  obtained  solely  by  hearing 
them  expounded.  This  is  true  of  the  Old  Testament 
scriptures,  which  were  read  to  the  people  as  Moses 
read  the  Law,  Exodus  24:4-7,  "And  Moses  wrote  all 
the  words  of  Jehovah.  .  .  .  And  he  took  the  book  of 
the  covenant  and  read  in  the  audience  of  the  people," 
and  as  Jesus  in  the  synagogue  read  from  Isaiah,  Luke  4: 
16,  17,  and  it  is  true  also  of  the  New  Testament  scrip- 
tures which  were  read  aloud  in  the  churches  and  also 
privately,  I  Timothy  4:13,  "  .  .  .  give  heed  to  read- 
ing, to  exhortation,  to  teaching,"  and  Revelation  1:3, 
"Blessed  is  he  that  readeth,  and  they  that  hear  the 
words  of  the  prophecy,  and  keep  the  things  which  are 
written  therein."  Dr.  Moffatt  well  says: — "This 
practice  of  reading  aloud  the  scriptures,  even  before 
they  were  scriptures  in  the  canonical  sense  of  the  term, 
helped  to  determine  insensibly  their  literary  form."  * 
*  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Testament,  p.  55. 
298 


LETTERS   AND    HOMILIES  299 

But  the  uses  to  which  the  Christian  scriptures  were 
to  be  put  determined  also  in  a  very  specific  way  the 
style  in  which  they  appear.  The  dialogue,  the  address 
and  the  epistle  were  all  known  and  used  by  the  early 
Greek  rhetoricans.  The  personal  relation  and  appeal 
of  these  forms  was  particularly  suitable  for  the  Christian 
writings  and  we  find  in  the  Gospels  examples  of  the 
use  of  dialogue  and  address  to  make  vivid  what  is  said. 

With  regard  to  the  probable  history  of  their  compo- 
sition, we  must  remember  that  historical  books,  in- 
tended by  their  authors  as  permanent  records,  diifer 
from  letters,  because  the  latter  are  almost  necessarily 
written,  as  many  of  Paul's  undoubtedly  were,  with  a 
kind  of  emotional  earnestness  occasioned  by  the  inci- 
dents or  happenings  which  called  them  forth.  They 
are  most  of  them  real  letters.  Whatever  may  be  true 
of  the  form  in  which  we  have  them,  it  is  practically 
certain  that  the  Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles 
represent  the  calmer  mood  of  the  historian  while  many  of 
the  Epistles  represent  earnest,  at  times  argumentative, 
presentation  of  ideas  for  the  consideration  of  particular 
individuals  or  groups.     They  contain  no  narrative. 

In  the  New  Testament,  twenty-one  books  are 
letters  to  groups  of  Christians,  to  Christians  in  general, 
or  to  individuals.^     Of  these,  thirteen  are  commonly 

1  The  Epistles,  which  constitute  such  a  large  and  important  part  of  the 
New  Testament  are  not  the  only  examples  of  letters  preserved  in  the  Bible. 
Just  as  a  letter  to  Gentiles  in  Antioch,  Syria  and  Cilicia  is  found  in  Acts  15: 
23-29,  a  letter  of  Claudius  Lysias  to  Felix  in  Acts  23:26-30,  and  a  letter 
commending  Phoebe  is  appended  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  of  which  it 
is  not  really  a  part,  so  a  number  of  letters  are  included  in  books  of  the  Old 
Testament.  Such  letters  are: — A  letter  of  David,  II  Samuel  11:15,  letters 
of  Jezebel,  I  Kings  21:9-10,  letter  of  the  King  of  Syria,  II  Kings  5:6,  letters 
of  Jehu,  mentioned  II  Kings  10:1-3,  letter  of  Sennacherib,  II  Kings  19:9-14, 
Isaiah  37:10,  letters  between  Solomon  and  Huram,  II  Chronicles  2:1-16, 
letter  from  Elijah  to  Jehoram,  II  Chronicles  21:12-15,  letters  concerning 
the  rebuilding  of  the  Temple  and  of  Jerusalem,  Ezra  4:7-23,  5:6-17,  7:11-26, 


300  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

attributed  to  the  authorship  of  Paul,  two  to  Peter,  two 
to  John  the  Presbyter,  one  to  John  the  Apostle,  one  to 
James,  and  one  to  Jude.  One,  the  Epistle  to  the  He- 
brews, is  anonymous,  perhaps,  because  the  usual  open- 
ing lines,  which  would  contain  the  name  of  the  author, 
as  in  other  Epistles,  are  missing.  This  Epistle  which 
is  more  of  a  homily  than  a  letter,  is  usually  attributed 
to  Paul,  but  concerning  this  and  others  there  are 
differences  of  opinion  as  to  both  authorship  and  date.^ 
The  Revelation  of  John  opens  and  closes  with  the 
forms  of  address  and  salutation  of  an  epistle,  but  both 
are  lacking  in  I  John,  which  is  a  homily,  or  tract, 
rather  than  a  letter.  The  Epistles  differ  greatly  in 
contents  and  style,  treating  as  they  do  of  different 
subjects,  and  for  different  purposes. 

The  Pauline  Epistles 

Probably  the  earliest  Epistle  written  by  Paul,  is 
I  Thessalonians,  which  contains  expressions  of  grati- 
tude  for  the   loyalty  and   faithfulness   of  the  young 

Nehemiah  6:5-8,  letter  from  Jeremiah  to  the  captives  in  Babylon,  Jeremiah 
29:1-32. 

Of  these  letters,  two  are  messages  from  Jehovah,  delivered  in  this  way  by 
the  prophets  Elijah  and  Jeremiah  respectively.  In  the  Apocrypha  are  a 
number  of  letters  such  as  the  letter  from  the  Syrian  officials  to  Darius, 
I  Esdras,  6:7,  letters  of  Artaxerxes,  Esther  13:1-7,  16:1-24,  letter  of 
Jeremy,  Baruch,  ch.  6,  letters  to  Jonathan,  I  Maccabees  10:3,  17-20,  letter 
of  Demetrius  to  the  Jews,  I  Maccabees  10:25-45,  letter  of  Lucuis  to  Ptolemy, 

I  Maccabees  15:16-24,  letter  from  Jews  in  Jerusalem  to  those  in  Egypt, 

II  Maccabees  i. 

^Origen  (d.253  ?  a.  d.)  said  of  it: — "If  then  any  church  professes  this  Epistle 
as  being  Paul's,  let  it  have  credit  for  the  circumstance;  for  not  in  vain  have 
the  ancients  handed  it  down  as  Paul's;  but  who  wrote  the  Epistle  God  alone 
knows  the  truth."  Tertullian  (d.  230?  a.  d.)  thought  Barnabas  the  author. 
Clement  of  Alexandria  (d.  220?  a.  d.)  believed  Paul  to  be  the  author,  and 
it  is  usually  attributed  to  Paul.  The  authorship  of  II  Peter  is  also  disputed, 
in  spite  of  the  opening  verse.  For  a  discussion  of  the  evidence  regarding 
the  authorship  and  dates  of  the  various  books  of  the  New  Testament  see 
James  MofFatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New  Testament,  under 
the  accounts  of  the  separate  books." 


LETTERS    AND    HOMILIES  3OI 

Church  under  persecution,  and  words  of  encourage- 
ment and  exhortation  to  mutual  love  and  to  still 
further  development  in  the  new  religious  life.  The 
second  coming  of  Christ  occupies  the  author's  mind  as 
he  writes,  and  the  reunion  of  Christ  and  the  Church  is 
set  forth  likewise  in  the  II  Thessalonians,  which  follows 
closely  the  thought  of  the  earlier  Epistle. 

Romans,  the  first  Epistle  in  order,  as  they  are  ar- 
ranged in  the  New  Testament,  was  not  called  forth,  as 
were  some,  by  dissensions  or  evils  within  the  Church, 
but  is  a  general  presentation  of  Christianity  as  broader 
than  Judaism  in  its  reaching  out  to  all  nations,  to 
Gentile  as  well  as  Jew.  "The  just  shall  live  by  faith." 
The  relation  of  faith  to  law  is  shown.  Under  the  law 
all  have  sinned,  but  God  has  in  Christ  provided  right- 
eousness, which,  by  faith,  becomes  the  sinner's,  who 
is  thereby  justified  before  the  law. 

In  I  Corinthians  Paul  deals  with  the  relation  of  Chris- 
tians to  the  customs  and  practices  of  paganism,  includ- 
ing idolatry,  and  with  important  questions  of  morality 
and  personal  conduct.  He  treats  too  of  the  doctrine  of 
the  resurrection  of  the  body,  which  it  was  evidently 
hard  for  the  Corinthians  to  accept,  as  it  was  for  the 
Athenians,  Acts  17:32.  His  argument  turns  on  the 
resurrection  of  Christ  as  conclusive  proof  of  the  doc- 
trine. II  Corinthians  is  in  three  distinct  parts,  the 
first  of  which,  i  :i-7:i6,  is  a  thanksgiving  for  deliverance 
from  serious  illness,  and  a  vindication  of  himself  against 
the  charge  of  having  been  unfaithful  in  not  coming  to 
Corinth  at  the  time  he  had  promised,  1:17-24;  the 
second  part,  8:1-9:15,  is  an  argument  for  "ministering 
to  the  saints,"  a  discussion  of  the  duty  of  giving;  the 
third  part,  10:1-13:14,  is  a  vigorous  justification  of 
his  work  as  an  Apostle. 


302  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

In  Galatians  Paul  expresses  his  wonder  that  these 
Christians  should  have  been  led  astray  by  false  breth- 
ren. Faith  and  works,  grace  and  law,  are  the  subjects. 
It  is  one  of  the  most  vehement  of  Paul's  utterances. 
It  includes  practically  the  whole  range  of  Christian 
doctrine  and  brings  out  with  great  distinctness  the 
idea  of  the  oneness  of  the  believer  with  Christ,  a  unity 
set  forth  in  John  under  the  figure  of  vine  and  the 
branches. 

Ephesians,  like  Galatians  and  Colossians,  is  compre- 
hensive in  its  teachings.  The  contrast  between  the 
new  life  and  the  old  is  drawn,  and  the  essential  unity 
of  the  believer  with  Christ  is  presented  under  the 
figure  of  the  body  and  its  members,  4:25,  "We  are 
members  one  of  another."  Christ  is  the  head.  4:15. 
Like  the  Roman  soldier,  the  Christian  is  armed  for 
attack  and  for  defense.  "Put  on  the  whole  armor  of 
God."  6:11.  In  style  and  language,  as  well  as  in 
thought,  Ephesians  deserves  the  opinion  of  Coleridge 
that  it  is  "one  of  the  divinest  compositions  of  man."  ^ 

Philippians  explains  the  advantages  of  discipleship 
even  though  there  be  hardships  and  deprivations  as 
a  result  of  it: — 

"Have  this  mind  in  you,  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus: 
who,  existing  in  the  form  of  God,  counted  not  the  being  on 
an  equality  with  God  a  thing  to  be  grasped,  but  emptied 
himself,  taking  the  form  of  a  servant,  being  made  in  the 
likeness  of  men.  .  .  ."    Philippians  2:5-7. 

To  the  Colossians  Paul  wrote  praising  their  faith- 
fulness and  urging  them  to  "walk  worthily  of  the 
Lord"  and  to  increase  "in  the  knowledge  of  God," 
1:10: — 

»  S.  T.  Coleridge,  Table  Talk. 


LETTERS    AND    HOMILIES  303 

"Set  your  mind  on  the  things  that  are  above,  not  on  the 
things  that  are  upon  the  earth."    Colossians  3 :2. 

Timothy  was  Paul's  "true  child  in  the  faith,"  I 
Timothy  i:i,  and  the  two  Epistles  addressed  to  him 
are  pastoral,  dealing  with  the  care  of  the  Church,  es- 
pecially in  the  matter  of  opposing  and  counteracting 
false  doctrine  such  as  that  of  the  Gnostics  and  other 
heretics : — 

"O  Timothy,  guard  that  which  is  committed  unto  thee, 
turning  away  from  the  profane  babblings  and  oppositions  of 
the  knowledge  which  is  falsely  so  called;  which  some  pro- 
fessing have  erred  concerning  the  faith."    I  Timothy  6 :20-2 1 . 

"For  the  time  will  come  when  they  will  not  endure  the 
sound  doctrine;  but  having  itching  ears,  will  heap  to  them- 
selves teachers  after  their  own  lusts;  and  will  turn  away 
their  ears  from  the  truth,  and  turn  aside  unto  fables.  But 
be  thou  sober  in  all  things,  suffer  hardship,  do  the  work  of 
an  evangeHst,  fulfil  thy  ministry."    II  Timothy  4:3-5. 

The  pastoral  to  Titus,  who  was  in  charge  of  the 
church  in  Crete,  treats  of  organization  and  discipline. 
Each  must  live  his  life  according  to  the  Christian  ideal. 
The  aged  must  be  temperate,  grave,  reverent  in  de- 
meanor, teachers  of  that  which  is  good.  The  younger 
likewise  must  show  themselves  "an  ensample  of  good 
works  " : — 

"For  the  grace  of  God  hath  appeared,  bringing  salvation 
to  all  men,  instructing  us,  to  the  intent  that,  denying  un- 
godliness and  worldly  lusts,  we  should  live  soberly  and 
righteously  and  godly  in  this  present  world;  looking  for  the 
blessed  hope  and  appearing  of  the  glory  of  the  great  God 
and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ;  who  gave  himself  for  us,  that 
he  might  redeem  us  from  all  iniquity,  and  purify  unto  him- 


304  A    BOOK    ABOUT    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

self  a  people  for  his  own  possession,  zealous  of  good  works." 
Titus  2:11-14. 

This  passage  has  been  called  an  epitome  of  the 
teachings  of  the  New  Testament. 

Philemon  is  an  Epistle  of  a  purely  personal  kind 
concerning  Onesimus,  a  slave,  who  had  evidently  not 
only  deserted,  but  also  probably,  robbed  his  master,  Phi- 
lemon vs.  15,  18.  Paul  sends  him  back  and  asks  that 
he  be  received  *'no  longer  as  a  servant,  but  more  than 
a  servant,  a  brother  beloved."  .  .  .  "receive  him  as 
myself." 

An  Anonymous  Treatise 

The  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  is  a  treatise,  evidently 
addressed  to  those  Hebrews,  who  had  become  Chris- 
tians, but  were  in  danger  of  reverting  to  Judaism.  The 
author  sets  forth  at  length  the  superiority  of  the  Chris- 
tian dispensation  of  grace  to  the  old  one  of  the  law. 
Chapter  11  is  a  magnificent  presentation  of  the  tri- 
umphs of  faith,  exemplified  in  the  history  of  the  Jews 
as  set  forth  in  the  scriptures.  Christ  is  higher  than 
the  angels,  higher  than  Moses,  higher  than  the  High 
Priest: — 

"God  having  of  old  time  spoken  unto  the  fathers  in  the 
prophets  by  divers  portions  and  in  divers  manners,  hath  at 
the  end  of  these  days  spoken  unto  us  in  his  Son."  Hebrews 
1:1,  2. 

The  General  Epistles 

We  now  come  to  a  group  of  seven  short  Epistles 
called  "General"  or  "Catholic,"  because  addressed  to 
Christians  everywhere,  instead  of  to  particular  groups 
or  individuals,  as  were  the  Pauline  Epistles.    The  first 


LETTERS   AND    HOMILIES  305 

of  these,  James,  is  addressed  to  "the  twelve  tribes 
which  are  of  the  Dispersion,"  and  it  has  therefore  been 
thought  that  the  words  are  intended  especially  for 
Jewish  Christians,  but  there  is  nothing  in  the  Epistle 
that  is  not  equally  applicable  to  Gentiles,  although 
Abraham  is  called  "our  father,"  and  there  is  pre- 
supposed a  famiHarity  with  the  "scriptures."  James 
sets  forth  the  doctrine  of  "works,"  as  Paul  sets  forth 
the  doctrine  of  "faith"  and  this  is  frequently  referred 
to  as  due  to  a  difference  between  the  Christian  doctrine 
of  James  and  that  of  Paul.  It  is  rather  a  difference  of 
emphasis,  for  both  teach  that  faith  must  manifest 
itself  in  mode  of  life: — 

"Ye  see  that  by  works  a  man  is  justified,  and  not  only 
by  faith."     James  2:24. 

"Pure  religion  and  undefiled  before  our  God  and  Father 
is  this,  to  visit  the  fatherless  and  widows  in  their  affliction, 
and  to  keep  oneself  unspotted  from  the  world."    James  i  -.ly. 

"The  fruit  of  the  spirit  is  love,  joy,  peace,  longsufFering, 
kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  self-control," 
Galatians  5 :22. 

One  of  the  most  interesting  features  of  James  is  that 
it  belongs  in  the  class  of  the  wisdom  books. 

I  Peter  and  I  John  were  accepted  early  by  the  Church, 
but  the  authenticity  of  the  other  "Catholic"  Epistles 
was  questioned  for  some  time.  The  two  Epistles  that 
bear  the  name  of  Peter  differ  greatly,  so  greatly  that 
II  Peter  is  usually  considered  by  scholars  to  belong  to 
a  date  later  than  the  time  of  Peter.  I  Peter,  written 
probably  from  Rome,  called  figuratively  "Babylon," 
5:13,  to  Christians  in  Asia  Minor,  i:i,  is  characteristic 
of  Peter,  as  we  know  him  in  the  Gospels  and  Acts. 


306  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

There  is  vigor  and  enthusiasm  shown  in  every  line. 
The  joy  that  is  derived  from  the  Christian  hope  is 
emphasized,  and  the  Epistle  begins  and  ends  with 
references  to  the  glory  of  the  Christian  inheritance 
reserved  in  heaven,  1:4,  and  the  "eternal  glory  in 
Christ,"  5:10,  "that  shall  be  revealed,"  5:1. 

II  Peter  deals  with  the  subject  of  false  teachers  who 
seek  to  corrupt  the  Church.  It  is  better  not  to  have 
known  Christ,  than,  having  known  him,  to  "turn  back 
from  the  holy  commandment  delivered  unto  them," 
2:21: — 

"The  day  of  the  Lord  will  come  as  a  thief."    II  Peter  3  :io. 

"Wherefore,  beloved,  seeing  that  ye  look  for  these  things, 
give  diligence  that  ye  may  be  found  in  peace,  without  spot 
and  blameless  in  his  sight."    II  Peter  3:14. 

The  fact  that  the  Epistles  of  Paul  are  referred  to  as 
"scriptures,"  as  they  are  in  3:16,  would  indicate  a 
somewhat  late  date  for  II  Peter  as  would  also  the  ap- 
parent connection  between  it  and  Jude.  Compare 
II  Peter  2:1-3:3  with  Jude. 

I  John,  from  its  philosophy,  and  particularly  from 
its  opening  reference  to  the  "Word,"  connects  itself 
closely  with  the  Gospel  of  John.  It  is  not  a  letter,  lack- 
ing the  customary  address  and  salutation  at  beginning 
and  end,  but  is  probably  a  homily  or  short  sermon 
written  to  be  sent  around  and  read  to  the  various 
churches,  in  order  to  strengthen  their  faith,  and  to 
counteract  heretical  and  hostile  teachings  which  were 
likely  to  affect  them,  2:18-29: — 

"Behold  what  manner  of  love  the  Father  hath  bestowed 
upon  us  that  we  should  be  called  children  of  God."    I  John 


LETTERS   AND    HOMILIES  3C7 

Of  the  three  Epistles  which  bear  the  name  of  John, 
the  Second  and  Third  were  long  in  gaining  a  secure 
place  in  the  canon.  They  are  both  attributed  to  John 
the  Elder. 

II  John  is  probably  not,  as  might  be  supposed  from 
its  opening  lines,  a  personal  letter,  but  is  addressed  to 
some  Christian  group  under  the  title  the  "elect  lady." 
It  warns  against  deceivers  or  false  teachers  who  would 
draw  Christians  away  from  their  faith.  That  a  church, 
and  not  an  individual,  is  addressed  is  indicated  by  the 
use  of  plural  pronouns  as; — 

"Look  to  yourselves,  that  ye  lose  not  the  things  which  we 
have  wrought,  but  that  ye  receive  a  full  reward.'*  II  John, 
V,  8. 

III  John  is  a  personal  letter  to  Gains,  praising  him 
for  his  faithful  service  in  receiving  and  helping  brethren 
and  strangers,  and  setting  them  forth  on  their  way.  A 
certain  "Diotrephes  who  loveth  to  have  the  preemi- 
nence" is  referred  to  as  a  contrast  to  Gains,  for  Dio- 
trephes  will  neither  receive  the  brethren,  nor  permit 
others  to  do  so. 

Jude,  the  most  important  ideas  of  which,  as  has  been 
said  above,  appear  also  in  II  Peter  2:1-3:3,  has  the 
distinction  of  being  the  only  book  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment which  quotes  by  name  from  a  non-canonical 
book.  In  II  Timothy,  3 :8,  a  story  about  Jannes  and 
Jambres  is  referred  to,  but  the  source  not  named. ^ 
Jude  quotes  Enoch,  and  also  speaks  of  a  contest 
between  Michael  and  the  devil  over  the  body  of  Moses, 
a  story  said  by  Origen  to  be  taken  from  the  Assump- 
tion of  Moses. ^    Jude  exhorts  all  Christians  to: — 

1  Jewish  tradition  says  that  they  were  the  magicians  of  Exodus  7:11. 

2  See  above,  p.  47. 


308  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"contend  earnestly  for  the  faith  which  was  once  for  all 
delivered  unto  the  saints."    Jude,  v.  3. 

Swift  destruction  will  come  upon  sinful  and  unfaith- 
ful men,  and  Christians  must  build  themselves  up  on 
their  most  holy  faith.* — 

"looking  for  the  mercy  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  unto 
eternal  life."  Jude,  v.  21. 

The  Epistles  are  expositions,  or  interpretations,  by 
their  authors,  of  what  they  believed  to  be  the  teachings 
of  Christ,  for  the  edification  of  the  early  groups  of  his 
followers.  The  expectation  that  he  would  soon  return 
to  take  his  followers  to  himself,  and  to  judge  the  world, 
is  clearly  expressed  in  a  number  of  passages,  and  Chris- 
tians are  exhorted  to  grow  in  faith,  to  manifest  their 
faith  by  their  works,  and  so  to  be  ready  when  the  Lord 
should  return. 


CHAPTER  XV 

APOCALYPSES 

Apocalyptic  literature,  of  which  a  number  of  speci- 
mens have  come  down  to  us,  was  a  recognized  form  in 
which  were  expressed  visions  of  the  future,  or,  under 
the  guise  of  visions,  interpretations  of  the  present  or  the 
past.^  To  the  modern  reader  the  figures  and  symbols 
seem  strange  and  remote,  and  the  interpretation  diffi- 
cult, but  to  the  Jews  and  early  Christians,  for  whom 
they  were  written,  the  language  and  the  ideas  were  not 
unfamiliar. 

In  the  Old  Testament  are  the  books  of  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel,  in  the  Apocrypha  is  II  Esdras,  and  in  the  New 
Testament,  the  Revelation  of  John.  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel,  in  visions  of  symbolic  meaning,  tell  of  events 
that  have  occurred,  or  were  to  occur,  on  this  earth. 
Symbolic  visions  are  found  also  in  other  prophetic 
books,  such  as  the  rod  of  an  almond  tree,  and  the  boil- 
ing caldron  of  Jeremiah,  the  locusts,  the  fire,  and  the 
great  deep,  of  Amos;  the  man  on  the  red  horse,  the  four 
horns,  the  man  with  the  measuring  line,  the  golden 
candlestick,  and  the  flying  roll  of  Zechariah. 

Revelation  is  concerned  partly  with  events  on  this 
earth,  and  partly  with  events  that  are  to  occur  and 
conditions  that  are  to  exist  in  a  new  heaven  and  a  new 
earth,  after  the  old  have  passed  away.    II  Esdras  con- 

^  For  a  discussion  of  this  see  S.  R.  Driver,  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of 
the  Old  Testamenty  pp.  488-515;  and  J.  Moffatt,  Introduction  to  the  Literature 
of  the  New  Testament,  pp.  483-5 14. 

309 


3IO  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

tains  symbolic  visions,  similar  to  those  of  Ezekiel  and 
Daniel,  one  of  which  is  an  exposition  of  Daniel's  vision 
of  the  fourth  kingdom,  II  Esdras  12:11,  12,  Daniel 
7:23.  The  collection  of  writings  known  by  the  name  of 
Enoch,  and  such  books  as  the  Apocalypses  of  Baruch, 
the  Sibylline  Oracles,  the  Testaments  of  the  Twelve 
Patriarchs,  the  Assumption  of  Moses,  are  other  exam- 
ples that  have  been  preserved,  and  there  were  many 
that  have  been  lost.  The  Revelation  of  Peter  is  men- 
tioned in  the  Muratorian  fragment  as  received  by  some 
in  the  early  Church  as  authentic,  and  the  fragment 
states  that  the  Shepherd  of  Hermas,  another  apocalyp- 
tic book,  was  for  private  reading  only.  Empires  are 
symbolized  as  stars,  images,  beasts,  angels,  and  the 
interpretation  is  sometimes  given,  and  sometimes  not. 
Apocalypses  nearly  all  have  the  idea  of  finality,  which 
is  inseparable  from  the  thought  of  a  day  of  judgment, 
or  a  day  of  the  Lord. 

The  conception  of  Jehovah  seated  on  his  throne  and 
holding  a  council  in  heaven,  or  pronouncing  judgment, 
appears  in  the  opening  of  Job,  and  in  I  Kings  22:19-22, 
II  Chronicles  18:18,  Isaiah  6:1,  Ezekiel  1:26,  as  the 
vision  of  the  great  white  throne  appears  later  in  Reve- 
lation, 4:2.  Theophanies  or  appearances  of  Jehovah 
are  found  described  in  such  passages  as  Habakkuk,  ch. 
3,  Psalm  144:5,  Isaiah  64:1,  Jude,  v.  14,  all  of  which 
refer  to  a  coming  of  Jehovah  to  judge  the  earth.  In 
Matthew,  ch.  24,  Mark,  ch.  13,  Luke,  ch.  21,  and  in  I  and 
II  Thessalonians,  we  have  accounts  of  what  is  to  happen 
at  the  second  coming  of  Christ.  Jewish  apocalypses 
looked  forward  to  a  Messiah  who  should  make  all  things 
right.  Revelation  treats  of  a  second  coming  of  Jesus 
as  Messiah  in  glory.  There  must  be  wars,  famines, 
disease,  death,  sufferings  of  all  kinds,  but  all  come  as 


APOCALYPSES  3 II 

part  of  the  purpose  of  God,  which  will  ultimately  work 
out  into  happiness  for  the  righteous.  Jehovah  wills 
these  things,  though  man  cannot  understand  them. 
Compare  Isaiah,  ch.  35  with  Revelation,  ch.  21,  as  ex- 
pressions of  belief  that  the  righteous  are  ultimately  to 
enjoy  the  eternal  personal  presence  of  God : — 

"Say  to  them  that  are  of  a  fearful  heart,  Be  strong,  fear 
not:  behold,  your  God  will  come  with  vengeance,  with  the 
recompense  of  God;  he  will  come  and  save  you.  .  .  . 

And  the  ransomed  of  Jehovah  shall  return,  and  come 
with  singing  unto  Zion;  and  everlasting  joy  shall  be  upon 
their  heads:  they  shall  obtain  gladness  and  joy,  and  sorrow 
and  sighing  shall  flee  away.    Isaiah  35:4,  10. 

In  Revelation  are  similar  expressions  concerning  the 
new   Jerusalem : — 

"And  I  heard  a  great  voice  out  of  the  throne  saying,  Be- 
hold, the  tabernacle  of  God  is  with  men,  and  he  shall  dwell 
with  them,  and  they  shall  be  his  peoples,  and  God  himself 
shall  be  with  them,  and  be  their  God:  and  he  shall  wipe 
away  every  tear  from  their  eyes;  and  death  shall  be  no  more; 
neither  shall  there  be  mourning,  nor  crying,  nor  pain,  any 
more."    Revelation  21 :3,  4. 

Back  of  all  of  the  apocalyptic  literature,  and  also 
derived  from  it,  there  were  in  the  minds  of  the  people 
conceptions  of  God  on  a  throne  in  heaven,  surrounded 
by  beings  of  the  various  orders  of  the  celestial  hierarchy, 
classified  later  by  Dionysius  the  Areopagite  (circa  500 
A.  D.)  in  his  De  Hierarchia  Celesti,  as  i.  Seraphim,  Isaiah 
6:1-4.  2.  Cherubim,  Genesis  3:24.  3.  Thrones,  Colos- 
sians  1:16.  4.  Dominions,  Colossians  1:16.  5.  Virtues, 
or  Mights,  Ephesians  1 :2i.  6.  Powers,  Colossians  i  :i6. 
7.  Principalities,    Colossians    1:16.      8.  Archangels    I 


312  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Thessalonians  4:16,  Jude,  v.  9,  where  Michael,  men- 
tioned first  in  Daniel  10:13,  is  called  "archangel." 
9.  Angels,  Genesis  19:1.  The  Secrets  of  Enoch,  ch. 
20,  gives  ten  ranks  of  heavenly  beings.^  Dante, 
Paradiso,  c.  28,  follows  the  order  as  given  by  Diony- 
sius,  and  disapproves  of  a  different  arrangement  given 
by  Gregory  the  Great,  Horn.  34:7.  In  Enoch  and  the 
Secrets  of  Enoch, ^  we  have  angelology  set  forth  at 
considerable  length.  In  Hermes  Trismegistus  we  have 
mention  of  the  "seven  administrators"  probably  the 
same  as  the  "seven  angels"  of  Revelation  8:2,  and  the 
"seven  holy  angels"  mentioned  in  Tobit  12:15.  T'he 
mention  of  the  different  orders  of  heavenly  beings  by 
Paul,  in  Ephesians  1:21,  and  Colossians  1:16,  shows 
how  general  the  conception  was  in  the  first  century. 

The  statements  in  II  Peter  2:4  and  Jude,  v.  6  about 
angels  that  had  sinned  and  been  consigned  to  chains 
and  darkness,  awaiting  judgment,  are  made  as  a  matter 
of  common  knowledge  and  belief,  but  there  is  no  other 
information  on  the  subject  in  the  Bible.  The  Talmud 
contains  the  story  of  the  angels  who  sinned.  Enoch  69: 
1-12,  gives  the  names  of  the  fallen  angels,  and  speaks  of 
a  number  of  "  satans  "  similar  to  the  one  mentioned  in 
Job:- 

"And  I  heard  the  fourth  voice  fending  off  the  satans  and 
forbidding  them  to  come  before  the  Lord  of  Spirits  to  accuse 
them  who  dwell  on  the  earth."    Enoch  40:7. 

One  of  the  chiefs  of  the  bad  angels  was  Gadreel, 
"and  he  led  astray  Eve."'     The  names  of  the  Seven 

^  Thf  Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enochs  translated  from  the  Slavonic  by  W.  R. 
Morfill,  edited  by  R.  H.  Charles.  The  book  was  written  at  the  beginning  of 
the  Christian  era. 

'  See  The  Al>ocrypha  and  Pseudepigratha  of  the  Old  Testament,  edited  by 
R.  H.  Charles: 

'  Passages  in  the  New  Testament,  which  indicate  a  general  belief  in  a 


APOCALYPSES  313 

Archangels  are  given  also,  Enoch  20.  Uriel,  Raphael, 
Raguel,  Michael,  Saraqael,  Gabriel,  RemieL  In  the 
Bible,  Michael  is  mentioned  in  Daniel  10:13,  21,  12:1, 
Jude,  V.  9,  and  Revelation  12:7.  Gabriel  is  mentioned 
in  Daniel  8:16,  9:21,  Luke  1:19,  26.  "Raphael,  one 
of  the  seven  holy  angels,"  was  the  companion  of  Tobias 
in  Tobit  5:4,  12:15.  Uriel  was  sent  to  Esdras,  II  Esdras 
4:1.    We  read  in  Enoch: — 

"And  I  asked  the  angel  of  peace  who  went  with  me,  saying: 
*For  whom  are  these  chains  being  prepared?*  And  he  said 
unto  me:  *These  are  being  prepared  for  the  hosts  of  Az- 
azel  .  .  .  and  Michael,  and  Gabriel,  and  Raphael,  and 
Phanuel  shall  take  hold  of  them  on  that  great  day,  and  cast 
them  unto  the  burning  furnace,  that  the  Lord  of  Spirits  may 
take  vengeance  on  them  for  their  unrighteousness  in  becoming 
subject  to  Satan  and  leading  astray  those  who  dwell  on  the 
earth."    Enoch  54:4-6. 

This  is  similar  to  the  binding  of  the  Devil  and  casting 
him  into  the  lake  of  fire  told  about  in  Revelation  20:10. 

That  the  righteous  dead  are  never  more  to  be  troubled 
by  sin  is  the  idea  of  Enoch  100:4,  5,  as  it  is  of  Revela- 
tion 20:6.  A  distinction  is  made  between  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  righteous  and  that  of  the  unrighteous,  and 
this  appears  In  the  passages  referred  to.  In  Enoch  sin- 
ners will  have  been  punished  before  the  righteous  rise: — 

"And  the  Most  High  will  arise  on  that  day  of  judgment. 
To  execute  great  judgment  amongst  sinners. 
And  over  all  the  righteous  and  holy  he  will  appoint  guard- 
ians from  amongst  the  holy  angels. 
To  guard  them  as  the  apple  of  an  eye, 

multiplicity  of  evil  spirits  are  those  concerning  demoniacal  possession,  and 
particularly  the  references  to  "  Beelzebub  the  prince  of  the  demons."  Mat- 
thew 12:24,  Mark  3:22,  Luke  11:15. 


314  A    BOOK    ABOUT    THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Until  He  makes  an  end  of  all  wickedness  and  all  sin, 
And  though  the  righteous  sleep  a  long  sleep,  they  have 
nought  to  fear."    Enoch  100:4,  5. 

In  Revelation  Christ  will  take  to  himself  the  righteous 
who  shall  reign  with  him  a  thousand  years,  after  which 
shall  be  the  general  judgment: — 

"And  they  lived  and  reigned  with  Christ  a  thousand  years. 
The  rest  of  the  dead  lived  not  until  the  thousand  years  should 
be  finished.  This  is  the  first  resurrection.  Blessed  and  holy 
is  he  that  hath  part  in  the  first  resurrection:  over  these  the 
second  death  hath  no  power  .  .  .  This  is  the  second  death, 
even  the  lake  of  fire."    Revelation  20:4,  5,  6,  14. 

The  first  resurrection  is  mentioned  in  II  Maccabees: — 

"As  for  thee,  thou  shalt  have  no  resurrection  unto  life." 
II  Maccabees  7:14. 

The  war  in  heaven  described  in  Revelation  12:7 
between  Michael  and  his  angels  against  the  Dragon, 
or  Old  Serpent,  or  Devil,  or  Satan,  (not  the  Satan  of 
Job  1:6,  I  Chronicles  21:1,  Zechariah  3:1,  who  was 
simply  "the  adversary,"  one  of  "the  satans,"  mentioned 
by  Enoch,  and  was  admitted  to  the  presence  of  God) 
is  not  the  war  or  rebellion  in  heaven  referred  to  in  II 
Peter  2:4  and  Jude  v.6.  Sin  had  evidently  entered 
heaven  through  the  satans,  who  had  corrupted  the 
angels.  These  had  then  taken  wives  of  the  daughters  of 
men,  and  begotten  giants,  as  told  in  Genesis  6:1-4. 
This  story  is  told  in  more  detail  in  Enoch  15,  16,  69. 
For  sin  these  angels  were  to  be  punished  at  the  great 
judgment.  It  is  that  which  is  described  in  Revelation. 
Familiar  then,  to  men  of  the  centuries  immediately 
preceding  the  Christian  era,  were  these  ideas  of  the 


APOCALYPSES  31^ 

Revelation.  There  was  to  be  a  great  battle,  as  a 
result  of  which,  evil  would  be  permanently  restrained. 
Satan  was  to  be  bound  for  a  thousand  years  and  then, 
after  a  brief  period  of  freedom,  cast  into  the  lake  of  fire 
forever  and  ever.  Revelation  20:1-10,  Enoch  21.  The 
conception  of  the  millennium  appears  in  the  Secrets  of 
Enoch  32:2-33:2.  The  idea  of  it  in  Revelation  was 
probably  familiar  to  Jews  and  Christians,  as  part  of 
beliefs  derived  from  the  interpretation  of  the  story  of 
Creation.  The  millennium  was  to  follow  the  end  of 
the  history  of  this  world,  as  the  Sabbath  of  rest  followed 
the  six  days  of  Creation. 

The  Jews  and  early  Christians  believed  that  there 
were  seven  heavens,  and  among  the  Babylonians  there 
were  also  seven  hells.  This  sevenfold  division  is  im- 
plied in  many  places  in  the  Bible.  Such  expressions 
as  the  "heaven  of  heavens,"  Deuteronomy  10:14,  I 
Kings  8:27  and  Psalm  148:4,  probably  have  such  an 
idea  back  of  them.  Common  expressions  to-day  are 
"the  seventh  heaven,"  and  "the  nethermost  hell," 
which  are  reminiscences  of  old  conceptions.  In  the 
New  Testament  we  read : — 

"I  know  a  man  .  .  .  such  a  one  caught  up  even  to  the 
third  heaven  .  .  .  caught  up  into  Paradise.'*  II  Corin- 
thians 12:2,  4. 

In  the  Secrets  of  Enoch,  8,  9,  Paradise  is  said  to  be 
situated  in  the  third  heaven,  just  as  it  is  in  II  Corin- 
thians, and  is  described  as  a  place: — 

"...  prepared  for  the  righteous  who  endure  every 
kind  of  attack  in  their  lives  from  those  who  afflict  their 
souls:  who  turn  away  their  eyes  from  unrighteousness,  and 
accomplish  a  righteous  judgment^  and  also  give  bread  to  the 


3l6  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

hungry,  and  clothe  the  naked,  and  raise  the  fallen,  and  assist 
the  orphans  who  are  oppressed,  and  who  walk  without  blame 
before  the  face  of  the  Lord,  and  serve  him  only.  For  them 
this  place  is  prepared  as  an  eternal  inheritance." 

With  this  compare: — 

"Then  shall  the  King  say  unto  them  on  his  right  hand, 
Come  ye  blessed  of  my  Father,  inherit  the  kingdom  prepared 
for  you  from  the  foundation  of  the  world:  for  I  was  hungry 
and  ye  gave  me  to  eat;  I  was  thirsty,  and  ye  gave  me  to  drink; 

I  was  a  stranger,  and  ye  took  me  in;  naked,  and  ye  clothed 
me;  I  was  sick,  and  ye  visited  me;  I  was  in  prison,  and  ye 
came  unto  me."    Matthew  25:34-36. 

With  these  passages  place  the  following: — 

"And  he  said,  Jesus,  remember  me  when  thou  comest  in 
thy  kingdom.  And  he  said  unto  him.  Verily  I  say  unto  thee, 
Today  shalt  thou  be  with  me  in  Paradise."    Luke  23  '.4.2,  43. 

"To  him  that  overcometh,  to  him  will  I  give  to  eat  of  the 
tree  of  life,  which  is  in  the  Paradise  of  God."    Revelation  2 :7. 

In  I  Peter  3:19  we  read  that  Christ,  after  the  cruci- 
fixion, "preached  unto  the  spirits  in  prison,"  a  state- 
ment which  commentators  connect  with  Jude,  v.  6  and 

II  Peter  2:4,  though  they  by  no  means  agree  as  to  the 
meaning.  The  Hebrews  believed  that  departed  spirits 
went  to  Sheol  until  the  judgment.  Enoch  was  taken 
by  "two  men  very  tall"  such  as  he  had  "never  seen 
on  earth."  "Their  faces  shone  like  the  sun."  "Their 
dress  had  the  appearance  of  feathers."  "Their  hands 
[were]  whiter  than  snow."  ^  They  showed  him  each  of 
the  seven  heavens.  In  the  first  was  a  great  sea;  in  the 
second,    prisoners    awaiting   the    "eternal   judgment" 

*  The  Book  of  the  Secrets  of  Enoch,  1-20. 


APOCALYPSES  3 17 

(see  II  Peter  2:4.  "Angels  .  .  .  reserved  unto  judg- 
ment"); in  the  third  a  Paradise,  or  garden,  with  a  tree 
of  life  in  the  midst  (see  II  Corinthians  12:2,  4,  and 
Revelation  2  7,  quoted  above) ;  in  the  fourth,  the  course 
of  the  Sun  and  Moon;  in  the  fifth  the  "satans"  who 
had  caused  the  original  rebellion  in  heaven,  as  a  result 
of  which  the  angels  confined  in  the  second  heaven  fell; 
in  the  sixth  were  seven  bands  of  angels  bright  and 
glorious;  in  the  seventh  heaven  were  the  Lord  on  his 
throne,  the  great  archangels,  lordships,  principalities, 
powers,  cherubim,  seraphim,  thrones,  and  the  ophan- 
nim  "full  of  eyes."  This  was  the  "heaven  of  heavens," 
and  the  "ophannim"  are  evidently  the  four  creatures 
described  in  Ezekiel: — 

"And  their  whole  body,  and  their  backs,  and  their  hands, 
and  their  wings,  and  the  wheels,  were  full  of  eyes  round 
about.  .  .  ."    Ezekiel  10:12. 

And  in  Revelation: — 

"Four  living  creatures  full  of  eyes  before  and  behind." 
**  Four  living  creatures  having  each  one  of  them  six  wings,  are 
full  of  eyes  round  about  and  within."    Revelation  4:6,  8. 

The  description  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  seventh 
heaven  may  be  compared  with  Isaiah,  ch.  6;  Ezekiel, 
ch.  I ;  Revelation,  ch.  4.  In  the  Testament  of  Levi  the 
fifth  heaven  contained  angels  who  praise  God  by  night 
and  are  silent  in  the  day,  a  different  group  from  those 
assigned  to  the  fifth  heaven  in  the  Secrets  of  Enoch. 

The  close  relation  between  the  apocalyptic  literature 
in  general  and  the  books  of  the  prophets  is  manifest. 
The  contents  of  each  is  a  message  of  some  kind  from 
Jehovah  to  men,  imparted  supernatu rally  through  a 


3l8  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

chosen  agent.  The  Revelation  of  John  contains  con- 
ceptions that  are  found  in  the  Old  Testament,  such  as 
"the  Son  of  Man,"  Daniel  7:13,  Revelation  14:14;  the 
"Ancient  of  Days,"  and  "the  great  white  throne," 
Daniel  7:9,  Revelation  20:11,  Ezekiel  10:1.  There 
are  also  in  Revelation  suggestions  of  the  scene  of  the 
Transfiguration,  Matthew  17:1-13,  Mark  9:2-13,  Luke 
9:28-36.  The  face  shining  "as  the  sun,"  and  the 
garments  "white  as  the  light,"  were  seen  by  John, 
Revelation  1:16,  as  they  had  been  seen  on  the  mount 
by  Peter,  James  and  John.  The  measuring  of  the 
Temple  with  a  reed  in  Revelation  11  :i,  2,  is  an  idea 
that  is  elaborated  in  Ezekiel,  chs.  40-42,  in  the  vision 
of  the  man  with  the  measuring  rod.  In  Zechariah  2:1 
is  another  man  with  a  measuring  line  preparing  for 
rebuilding  the  city  of  Jerusalem,  and  the  figure  is  used 
also  in  II  Samuel  8:2  and  II  Kings  21:13.  These  refer- 
ences to  other  apocalypses  and  to  extraordinary  visions 
recorded  in  the  Old  Testament  and  in  the  New  have 
been  made  here  simply  for  the  purpose  of  showing  that 
the  figures  and  language  of  Revelation,  as  of  the  sym- 
bolism of  other  parts  of  the  Bible,  were  familiar  to  the 
Jews  and  early  Christians,  and  are  to  be  found  also 
in  ancient  writings  not  included  in  the  Scriptures. 

Ezekiel  is  a  book  of  prophecy,  and  not  an  apoca- 
lypse, but  it  is  mentioned  here  because  of  its  concep- 
tions and  symbolic  visions. 

Ezekiel 

The  b6ok  of  Ezekiel  belongs  to  the  period  of  the 
Exile.  It  consists  of  three  parts.  The  contents  deal 
with  the  fall  of  Jerusalem,  the  punishment  of  other 
the    return    to    Jerusalem,    and    the   reinsti- 


APOCALPYSES  3 19 

tution  of  the  nation,  and  of  the  Temple  worship. 
Symbolic  vision  and  allegory  characterize  the  book. 
The  divisions  are: — 

1.  The  impending  fall  of  Jerusalem,    chs.  1-24. 

2.  Prophecies  against  other  nations,    chs.  25-32. 

3.  The  restoration  of  Israel,    chs.  33-48. 


Daniel 

To  the  book  of  Daniel  there  are  two  distinct  parts, 
the  first,  chs.  i-6,  being  the  story  of  Daniel  at  the 
court  of  Babylon.    This  part  closes  with  the  words : — 

"So  this  Daniel  prospered  in  the  reign  of  Darius,  and  in 
the  reign  of  Cyrus  the  Persian."    Daniel  6:28. 

In  the  first  six  chapters,  the  story  of  Daniel  is  told 
in  the  third  person,  while  the  second  part  of  the  book, 
chs.  7-12,  containing  the  dreams  and  visions  of  Daniel, 
is  in  the  first  person.  This  is  probably  because  the 
revelations  to  Daniel  are  described  by  him  as  things 
he  himself  saw.^  Daniel,  like  Ezeklel,  Is  dated  In  the 
opening  verses  by  Its  author  as  having  been  written 
during  the  Exile.  The  fact  that  Ezeklel  appears  In  the 
Hebrew  Scriptures  among  the  Prophets,  while  Daniel 
is  in  the  Writings,  Is  Interpreted  by  scholars  as 
having  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  date  of  Its  writing. 
This  is  Important  In  connection  with  any  attempt  to 
interpret  the  book. 

*  A  linguistic  peculiarity  of  Daniel,  the  reason  for  which  is  not  known, 
though  several  theories  have  been  advanced  to  explain  it,  is  that  1:1-2: 
4a,  is  in  Hebrew,  2:4b-7:28  in  Aramaic  and  8:1-12:13  in  Hebrew.  The 
Aramaic  begins  where  the  words  of  the  Chaldeans  are  quoted,  "O  King  live 
forever,"  etc.  » 


320  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

II  Esdras 

To  many  readers  of  the  Bible  the  books  of  the 
Apocrypha  are  not  familiar.  An  outline  is  given  there- 
fore of  II  Esdras,  an  apocalyptic  book.  In  it,  12:10-39, 
is  found  an  interpretation  of  "the  fourth  kingdom" 
"which  appeared  in  vision  to  thy  brother  Daniel." 

1.  A  rebuke  to  the  people  for  their  sins,  in  spite  of  God's 
care  over  them  throughout  their  history,    i  :i-2:4i. 

2.  The  vision  of  Mount  Sion  and  the  multitude  of  the  faith- 
ful departed  receiving  crowns  and  palms  from  the  Son  of 
God.    2:42-48. 

3.  The  complaint  of  Esdras.  God  spares  wicked  men. 
3:1-36. 

4.  The  answer  to  the  complaint.  Uriel  tells  Esdras  that 
if  he  cannot  weigh  fire,  measure  the  wind,  or  recall  a  day  that 
is  past,  he  cannot  comprehend  "the  way  of  the  Most  High." 
The  fable  of  the  trees,  the  fire,  the  sea,  and  the  sand.    4:1-21. 

5.  Uriel  answers  the  questions  of  Esdras  as  to  the  flourish- 
ing of  evil,  and  the  duration  of  time.  Few  will  be  saved. 
4:22-9:25. 

6.  The  visions  in  the  field  of  Ardat  9:26-13 :58: — 

a.  The  woman  and  the  city.    9:38-10:59. 

b.  The  eagle  with  three  heads  and  twelve  wings,  and 

the  lion  with  a  man's  voice.    11:1-12:51. 

c.  The  man  from  the  sea.    13:1-58. 

7.  The  voice  of  God  from  the  bush.  Woe  to  Babylon  and 
Asia,  Egypt  and  Syria.    14:1-16:78. 

The  Revelation  of  John 

The  structure  of  Revelation,  as  it  appears  in  the 
following  outline,  is  elaborate.  The  numbers  seven  and 
three  are  seen  throughout: — 

Prologue,  (a)  Title  of  the  book.     1:1-3. 

(b)  Address  to  the  seven  churches,     i  :4-8. 
Vision  of  heaven.    The  Son  of  Man,  the  Seven  Candle- 


APOCALYPSES  321 

Sticks,  the  Seven  Stars.    The  command  to  write  to  the  Seven 
Churches.     1 19-20.    The  messages  to — 

1.  Ephesus. 

2.  Smyrna. 

3.  Pergamum. 

4.  Thyatira. 

5.  Sardis. 

6.  Philadelphia. 

7.  Laodicea.    chs.  2-3. 

Vision  of  heaven.    4:1-5:14,  and  the  Seven  Seals,  ch.    6. 

1.  The  white  horse. 

2.  The  red  horse. 

3.  The  black  horse. 

4.  The  pale  horse. 

5.  The  souls  of  the  slain. 

6.  The  earthquake  and  the  eclipse,    ch.  6. 

Episode.    The  sealing  of  the  redeemed  on  earth.    The  re- 
deemed in  heaven,    ch.  7. 

7.  The  silence  in  heaven.    8:1. 

Vision  of  heaven  and  of  the  Seven  Angels  and  the  Seven  Trum- 
pets. 8:2-9:21. 

1.  Hail,  fire,  and  blood  on  the  earth. 

2.  Burning  mountain  in  the  sea. 

3.  Falling  star.  Wormwood,  poisons  the  streams. 

4.  Partial  eclipse  of  Sun,  Moon  and  stars. 

5.  Opening  of  the  abyss,  letting  out  locusts,  "like  horses 
prepared  for  war." 

6.  Loosing  of  the  four  angels  and  of  the  horsemen. 
Episode.  The  angel  and  the  little  book.    ch.  10. 

The  two  witnesses.     1 1  :i-i4. 

7.  The  great  voices  in  heaven,  the  woman,  the  dragon 
and  the  child,  the  war  in  heaven.     11:15-12:17. 

The  beast  coming  out  of  the  sea.    13  :i-io. 
The  beast  coming  out  of  the  earth.    13  :i  1-18. 
Episode.  The  redeemed  in  heaven.     14:1-5. 

The  three  angels  with  proclamations.     14:6-13. 

The  three  angels  of  reaping.    14:14-20. 


322  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Vision  of  heaven  and  of  Seven  Angels  having  Seven  Bowls 
of  Plagues.    15:1-16:21. 

1.  Noisome  sore  upon  men  who  worshipped  the  beast. 

2.  Sea  turned  into  blood. 

3.  Rivers  turned  into  blood. 

4.  Sun  scorching  men. 

5.  Kingdom  of  the  Beast  darkened. 

6.  Euphrates  dried  up. 

7.  Lightnings,  thunders,  earthquakes. 
Visions  of  judgment.    17:1-20:10. 

1.  Judgment  and  doom  of  Babylon,  and  song  of  rejoicing 
in  heaven.     17:1-19:10. 

2.  Destruction  of  the  Beast  and  the  false  prophet  by  the 
rider  on  the  white  horse.     19:11-21. 

3.  Binding  of  Satan  for  a  thousand  years,  his  temporary 
release,  and  final  doom  in  the  lake  of  fire.    20:1-10. 

Visions  of — 

1.  The  great  white  throne.    20:11-15. 

2.  The  new  heaven  and  the  new  earth.    21  :i-8. 

3.  The  new  Jerusalem  coming  down  out  of  heaven.    21 :9- 
22:5. 

Epilogue,  These  words  are  faithful  and  true.    22:6-21. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE  IN  MANUSCRIPT 
BEFORE    WYCLIFFE 

The  beginnings  of  Christianity  in  Britain  are  in- 
volved in  much  obscurity.  There  are  numerous  stories 
about  the  subject,  which  variously  attribute  the  intro- 
duction of  the  new  religion  to  Joseph  of  Arimatliea,  to 
Peter  and  Paul,  to  Bran  the  father  of  Caractacus,  and 
to  missionaries  sent  by  Pope  Eleutherus  in  the  time 
of  Aurelius,  at  the  close  of  the  second  century,  in 
response  to  a  request  from  a  British  King  Lucius.  The 
last  story  is  told  by  Bede,  but  his  authority  is  unknown. 
Tertullian^  (d.  circa  230)  declared  that  in  Britain  were 
places  subject  to  Christ,  which  Roman  arms  could  not 
penetrate,  and  Origen^  (d.  circa  253)  speaks  of  the 
power  of  Christ  as  manifested  in  Britain.^  When  the 
Teutons,  who  were  heathen,  invaded  Britain  in  the 
middle  of  the  fifth  century,  Christianity  had  been  es- 
tablished there  among  the  Celts,  who  received  it 
during  the  Roman  occupation.  More  than  this  we  do 
not  know. 

Although  efforts  of  the  Celtic  churchmen  had  re- 
sulted in  the  conversion  of  the  Northern  Picts,  the 
conversion  of  the  Teutonic  invaders  was  not  accom- 
plished until  the  coming  of  Augustine  and  his  band  of 

*  Tert.  adv.  JudaoSy  p.  189. 
2  Tract  28  in  Matt. 

'  See  J.  Lingard,  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  Churchy 
London,  1845,  vol.  i,  pp.  1-63,  for  an  outline  of  this  early  history. 

323 


324  A   BOOK  ABOUT   THE   ENGLISH    BIBLE 

missionaries,  sent  by  Gregory  at  the  beginning  of  the 
seventh  century.  Bertha,  the  Queen  of  Ethelbert, 
King  of  Kent,  was  a  Christian,  though  her  husband  was 
not.  The  latter  however  received  Augustine  and  Hs- 
tened  to  his  preaching.  The  earliest  church  buildings 
in  Britain  were  Celtic,  and  one  of  these  at  Canterbury, 
named  in  honor  of  St.  Martin,  which  had  been  given 
by  Bertha  to  Bishop  Liudhard,  was  turned  over  to 
Augustine.  The  efforts  of  Augustine  and  his  associates, 
and  the  purity  of  their  teachings,  won  not  only  Ethel- 
bert, but  also  his  subjects,  and  Bede  is  authority  for  the 
statement  "  that  at  the  feast  of  Christmas  ten  thousand 
Saxons  followed  their  prince  to  the  waters  of  baptism."  ^ 

The  Roman  Church,  thus  established  in  Britain  by 
Augustine,  differed  on  some  important  points  from  the 
Celtic  Church.  The  most  important  difference  was  in 
regard  to  the  date  at  which  Easter  should  be  celebrated. 
Other  questions  concerned  the  tonsure,  and  the  celibacy 
of  the  clergy.  A  conference  was  called  in  664  by  Oswiu 
King  of  Northumbria  to  meet  at  Whitby,  the  monastery 
presided  over  by  the  Abbess  Hilda.  The  discussion  of 
the  date  of  Easter  was  led  on  behalf  of  the  Celtic  party 
by  Colman,  the  Bishop  of  Lindisfarne,  and  for  the  Saxon 
party  by  Wilfrid,  who  later  became  Archbishop  of 
York.  The  King  favored  the  Saxon,  or  Roman,  opinion 
rather  than  the  Celtic,  and  Colman  and  his  followers 
withdrew  to  the  monastery  of  lona,  while  the  Abbess 
Hilda  and  some  of  the  clergy  of  the  Celtic  Church  went 
over  to  Wilfrid. 

Celtic  scholarship  was  of  a  high  order  and  many 

Anglo-Saxon  scholars  received  their  training  at  Celtic 

schools.      Celtic  art  likewise  developed  early,  and  not 

only  in  church  architecture  and  ornament,  but  also  in 

*  J.  Lingard,  History  of  the  Saxon  Church,  vol.  i,  p.  25. 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  325 

the  early  manuscripts  of  the  Bible,  such  as  the  Llndis- 
farne  Gospels  is  its  influence  clearly  seen  in  the  minis- 
cules  and  decorations.  Ireland  was  during  the  middle 
ages  probably  the  most  highly  cultured  nation  in 
Europe. 

As  the  Celtic  Church  antedated  the  making  of  the 
Vulgate,  or  Latin  version  of  Jerome  (d.  420),  it  was  the 
old  Latin  version  of  the  Scriptures  that  was  read  in  the 
churches  and  religious  establishments  of  various  kinds, 
that  were  in  existence  earlier  than  the  coming  of  Augus- 
tine. After  the  Synod  of  Whitby,  however,  where  the 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  Church  was  determined  for 
the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  Vulgate  became  in  time  the  ac- 
cepted Bible.  There  is  no  indication,  as  yet  discovered, 
of  Celtic  as  distinguished  from  Roman  influence  on 
Biblical  versions  in  English. 

The  translation  of  the  Bible  from  the  original  lan- 
guages into  other  tongues  began  very  early,  as  is  shown 
by  the  early  Greek  versions  of  the  Old  Testament,  the 
Latin  versions  of  both  Old  and  New  Testaments,  and 
the  various  translations  into  Oriental  languages, 
Syriac,  Armenian  and  Coptic.  In  England,  as  in  other 
countries  where  Christianity  was  preached,  the  con- 
tents of  the  Bible  became  known  to  the  people  in  their 
own  language  long  before  any  attempt  was  made  to 
commit  any  portions  of  it  to  writing  in  the  vernacular. 
In  time,  parts  of  the  Bible,  especially  the  Gospels  and 
the  Psalter,  were  translated  into  Anglo-Saxon,  but  a 
fact  usually  overlooked  in  connection  with  the  early 
translations  Is  that  they  were  made  to  assist  the  less 
well-educated  clergy  and  the  religious,  and  not  for  the 
people.  The  idea  that  It  was  necessary  or  desirable  to 
place  the  text  of  the  Bible  In  the  hands  of  the  people  In 
their  own  language  developed  much  later.    The  misuse 


326  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  Scripture  by  ignorant  priests  and  laymen  was  re- 
ferred to  by  ^Ifric.  We  must  be  careful,  therefore,  in 
thinking  of  the  relation  of  the  Bible  to  the  people,  not 
to  carry  back  into  Anglo-Saxon  times  ideas  that  were 
not  commonly  held  until  the  days  of  Wycliffe,  or  even 
after  the  Reformation. 

A  vernacular  translation  would  have  had  few  readers 
outside  of  the  ecclesiastical  establishments,  within 
which,  except  among  the  lower  clergy  and  the  religious, 
the  need  of  such  a  translation  was  not  felt,  as  Latin 
was  sufficient,  the  services  of  the  Church  being  in 
Latin.  ^  The  people  could  not  have  read  a  vernacular 
version,  had  they  possessed  one,  and  only  the  well-to- 
do  could  have  afforded  to  own  a  manuscript  copy.^ 

While  few  of  the  laity  cpuld  read,  and  many  of  the 
lower  clergy  and  the  religious  were  not  learned,  there 
were  great  scholars  within  the  establishments,  and  un- 
der their  influence  many  manuscripts  of  the  Bible  were 
prepared,  of  which  the  Codex  Amiatinus,  now  in  the 
Laurentian  Library  at  Florence,  made  at  Wearmouth, 
or  Yarrow,  as  a  gift  to  the  Pope,  and  the  Lindisfarne 
Gospels,  referred  to  below,  are  notable  examples. 

Although  the  facts  are  as  stated  in  regard  to  the  trans- 

^  "  For  the  instruction  of  the  people,  the  Epistle  and  Gospel  were  read, 
and  the  sermon  delivered  in  their  native  tongue,  but  God  was  addressed  by 
the  ministers  of  religion  in  the  Language  of  Rome."  J.  Lingard,  History  of 
the  Saxon  Church,  vol.  i,  p.  307. 

2  In  consequence  of  this  there  came  into  existence,  much  later,  the  Biblia 
PauteruiHy  or  Bible  of  the  Poor,  at  first  in  manuscript,  and,  after  about  1420 
in  block  printing.  The  book  was  so  called  to  distinguish  it  from  complete. 
Bibles  and  consisted  of  pictures  illustrating  scenes  from  the  Bible.  The 
earliest  printed  copy,  1420,  contained  forty  block  plates.  A  second  issue  in 
1450  contained  fifty  plates  by  another  artist.  There  were  marw  varieties  of 
the  Biblia  Pauperum,  original  copies  of  which  are  very  rare.  There  are  fac- 
simile reprints  of  some  of  the  copies  such  as — Biblia  Pauperum,  Reproduced 
in  facsimile  from  one  of  the  copies  in  the  British  Museum;  with  Introduction 
by  J.  P.  Berjeau,  London,  1859.  Biblia  Pauperum.  Conteynynge  Thyrtie 
and  Eyght  Woodcuttes  illustratynge  the  Lyfe  of  .  .  .  Jhesus  Crist,  Descryp- 
cions  extracted  off  John  Wiclif,  witn  Preface  by  A.  P.  Stanley,  London)  1884. 


THE   ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  327 

lation  of  the  Bible  into  Anglo-Saxon,  and  only  parts  of 
the  text  were  so  translated,  it  is  no  exaggeration  to  say- 
that  a  large  part  of  all  that  was  written  in  Anglo-Saxon 
was  based  directly  or  indirectly  on  the  Bible,  including 
poems,  more  or  less  original,  of  epic  and  liturgical  char- 
acter, legends,  prose  and  verse  paraphrases,  commen- 
taries and  homilies.  There  are  references  in  early  rec- 
ords to  clerics  who  had  thus  utilized  Bible  stories.  In 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Bede  is  found  the  Story  of 
Csedmon  (670  fl.) : — 

"His  Song  was  of  the  creation  of  the  world,  of  the  birth  of 
man,  of  the  history  of  Genesis.  He  sang  too,  the  Exodus  of 
Israel  from  Egypt  and  their  entrance  into  the  promised  land, 
and  many  other  narratives  of  Holy  Scripture.  Of  the  in- 
carnation also  did  he  sing,  and  of  the  passion;  of  the  resurrec- 
tion and  ascension  into  heaven;  of  the  coming  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  teaching  of  the  Apostles."  ^ 

We  do  not  possess  any  part  of  Csedmon's  transla- 
tion or  paraphrase.  The  Genesis,  Exodus  and  Daniel, 
formerly  attributed  to  him,  are  found  in  a  manuscript 
of  the  tenth  century,  now  in  the  Bodleian  Library. 
They  are  poems  freely  paraphrasing  parts  of  the  books. 

Statements  commonly^  made  concerning  translations 
of  the  Psalter  by  Aldhelm  (640?-709)  and  Guthlac  (d. 
714)  have  been  shown  to  be  probably  erroneous  as 
there  is  no  real  evidence  that  any  such  versions  ever 
existed.^  Nothing  remains  of  a  translation  of  the  Gos- 
pel of  John  as  far  as  6:9,  which  it  is  stated  by  Cuthbert, 

*  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History,  IV,  24. 

2  For  example,  J.  I.  Mombert,  Handbook  of  the  English  Versions  of  the 
Bible,  id  ed.,  New  York,  1890,  p.  5.  F,  G.  Kenyon,  Our  Bible  and  the  Ancient 
Manuscripts,  2cl  ed.,  London,  1896,  p.  190. 

2  For  a  discussion  of  this  see  A.  S.  Cook,  Biblical  Quotations  in  Old  English 
Prose  Writers,  London,  1898,  pp.  xiv-xix. 


328  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

in  a  letter  to  Cuthwine,  was  made  by  Bede  (d.  735). 
The  letter  of  Cuthbert,  which  is  frequently  referred  to 
as  authority  for  the  statement  that  Bede  translated  the 
whole  of  the  Gospel  of  John,  is,  in  part,  as  follows: — 

"Thus  we  passed  in  joy  the  quinquagesimal  days  till  the 
aforesaid  festival;  and  he  rejoiced  greatly,  and  gave  thanks 
to  God  for  the  infirmities  under  which  he  suffered,  often  re- 
peating *God  scourgeth  every  son  whom  he  receiveth'  (Heb. 
12:6)  with  other  passages  of  Scripture,  and  the  saying  of 
St.  Ambrose — T  have  not  lived  so  as  to  be  ashamed  to  live 
among  you,  nor  do  I  fear  to  die,  for  we  have  a  gracious  God.' " 

"During  these  days,  besides  the  lessons  which  he  gave  us, 
and  the  chant  of  the  psalms,  he  undertook  the  composition 
of  two  memorable  works,  that  is,  he  translated  into  our 
language  the  gospel  of  St.  John  as  far  as  'But  what  are  these 
among  so  many?'  etc.  John  6:9 — and  made  a  collection  of 
extracts  from  the  notes  of  Isidore,  the  bishop,  saying,  T 
will  not  suffer  my  pupils  to  read  falsehoods,  and  labour  with- 
out profit  in  that  book,  after  my  death.'  But  on  the  Tuesday 
before  the  Ascension,  his  difficulty  of  breathing  began  to 
distress  him  exceedingly,  and  a  slight  tumour  appeared  in  his 
feet.  He  spent  the  whole  day,  and  dictated  to  us  with  cheer- 
fulness, saying  occasionally,  *  Lose  no  time.'  " 

"  I  know  not  how  long  I  may  last.  Perhaps  in  a  very  short 
time  my  Maker  may  take  me. — In  fact,  it  seemed  to  us  that 
he  knew  the  time  of  his  death.  He  lay  awake  the  whole 
night  praising  God:  and  at  dawn  on  the  Wednesday  morning, 
ordered  us  to  write  quickly,  which  we  did,  till  the  hour  of 
terce  (nine  o'clock).  At  that  hour  we  walked  in  procession 
with  the  relics,  as  the  rubric  for  the  day  prescribed;  but  one 
of  us  remained  to  wait  on  him,  and  said  to  him,  Dearest 
master,  there  still  remains  one  Chapter  unwritten.  Will  it 
fatigue  you  if  I  ask  more  questions?  *No'  said  Beda,  'take 
your  pen  and  mend  it,  and  write  quickly.'    This  he  did." 

"When  they  heard  him  say  that  they  would  see  him  no 
more  in  this  world,  all  burst  into  tears;  but  their  tears  were 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  329 

tempered  with  joy  when  he  said,  *It  is  time  that  I  return  to 
Him  who  made  me  out  of  nothing.  I  have  lived  long,  and 
kindly  hath  my  merciful  judge  forecast  the  course  of  my  life 
for  me.  The  time  of  my  dissolution  is  at  hand.  I  wish  to  be 
released,  and  to  be  with  Christ.'  In  this  way  he  continued  to 
speak  cheerfully  till  sunset,  when  the  forementioned  youth 
said,  *  Beloved  master,  there  is  still  one  sentence  unwritten.* 
*Then  write  quickly,'  said  Beda.  In  a  few  minutes  the  youth 
said,  *It  is  finished.'  "Thou  hast  spoken  truly,'  replied  Beda, 
*take  my  head  between  thy  hands,  for  it  is  my  delight  to  sit 
opposite  to  that  holy  place  in  which  I  used  to  pray;  let  me 
sit  and  invoke  my  Father.'  Sitting  thus  on  the  pavement  of 
his  cell,  and  repeating,  *  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  and  to  the 
Son,  and  to  the  Holy  Ghost,'  as  he  finished  the  word  'Ghost,* 
he  breathed  his  last,  and  took  his  departure  for  Heaven."  ^ 

Bede  wrote  a  number  of  commentaries  on  the  various 
books  of  the  Bible  and  this  may  be  the  basis  for  the 
statement  made  by  Wycliffe,^  and  others  that  Bede 
translated  the  whole  Bible  into  Anglo-Saxon,  but  there 
is  no  other  evidence  of  this. 

The  name  of  Eadfrith,  (d.  721)  a  contemporary  of 
Bede,  is  connected  with  the  Anglo-Saxon  Gospels 
which  are  variously  known  as  the  "Lindisfarne  Gos- 
pels," the  "Durham  Book,"  and  the  "Book  of  St. 
Cuthbert."  It  is  the  most  beautiful  extant  specimen 
of  Anglo-Saxon  manuscript,  and  contains  Jerome's 
Latin  version  to  which  have  been  added  Anglo-Saxon 
interlineations  or  glosses.  Appended  to  it  are  the 
Eusebian  Canons,  and  the  Letter  to  Damasus.  The 
manuscript  is  now  in  the  British  Museum. 

At  the  end  of  the  Gospel  of  John  is  a  note  thus  trans- 
lated by  Dr.  Skeat: — 

*  As  translated  in  J.  Lmgard*s  History  of  the  Saxon  Church,  vol.  2, 
pp.  197-200. 

2  See  below,  p.  341. 


330  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Eadfrith,  bishop  of  Lindisfame  Church  was  he  who  at 
the  first  wrote  this  book  in  honour  of  God  and  St.  Cuthbert 
and  all  the  saints  in  common  that  are  in  the  island  .  .  .  and 
Aid  red,  an  unworthy  and  most  miserable  priest,  glossed  it 
above  in  English."  ^ 

Aldred  (950  ?)  however,  belonged  to  a  later  time,  as 
do  the  Anglo-Saxon  interlinear  "glosses,"  which  are 
rather  notes,  than  translations  in  the  ordinary  sense. 
They  have  an  important  bearing  on  the  whole  question 
of  the  vernacular  version.  The  people,  as  has  been 
stated  above,  could  not,  except  in  rare  instances,  read, 
but  it  was  necessary  for  the  clergy  to  be  able  to  render 
the  Bible  words  accurately  into  Anglo-Saxon.  The 
glosses  therefore  were  to  aid  the  clergy  in  their  preach- 
ing to  the  people.  They  date  probably  from  the  tenth 
century  and,  next  to  the  "LIndisfarne  Gospels,"  the 
most  famous  is  the  "Rushworth  Gospels"  or  the 
"  Rushworth  Gloss,"  now  in  the  Bodleian  Library.  This 
contains  a  translation  of  Matthew,  and  a  gloss  of  the 
other  Gospels.    Appended  to  it  are  two  notes: — 

"Farmen  the  presbyter  this  book  thus  glossed." 
"Let  him  that  makes  use  of  me  pray  for  Owun,  who  glossed 
this  for  Farmen,  priest  at  Harewood." 

Preserved  in  the  British  Museum  is  a  Latin  Psalter 
thought  to  be  the  actual  manuscript  sent  by  Gregory 
the  Great  to  Augustine,  when  the  latter  was  in  England, 
early  in  the  seventh  century.  It  has  interlineation, 
probably  of  the  ninth  century,  of  an  Anglo-Saxon 
translation.  To  the  ninth  and  tenth  centuries  belong 
several  varieties  of  the  Psalter  glossed  in  Anglo-Saxon. 

»  W.  W.  Skeat,  The  Saxon  Gospels,  Cambridge,  1871-87.  Preface  to  John, 
p.  viii. 


THE   ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  33 1 

What  is  known  as  the  Vespasian  Psalter  is  an  inter- 
linear version  of  the  Roman  Psalter,  dating  probably 
from  the  first  half  of  the  ninth  century.  It  is  thought 
by  some  scholars  that  all  later  glosses  on  the  Psalms, 
of  which  there  are  a  number  of  varieties,  may  have 
been  derived  from  this.^  Both  the  Roman  Psalter  and 
the  Galilean  Psalter  are  found  glossed.  There  are  also 
glosses  on  the  Canticles  which  occur  in  the  Liturgy, 
and  a  Kentish  gloss  (fragmentary)  on  Proverbs. 

We  are  told  by  William  of  Malmesbury  ^  that  King 
Alfred  (849-901)  left  unfinished  at  his  death  a  trans- 
lation of  the  Psalter.  To  him  have  been  attributed 
the  prose  version  of  the  first  fifty  Psalms  found  in  the 
Paris  Psalter,  which  consists  of  two  parts,  a  prose 
version  of  Psalms  i  to  51:8,  and  a  poetical  version  of 
the  remainder  of  the  book  of  Psalms,  beginning  with 
52:6.  This  manuscript,  probably  of  the  eleventh 
century,  is  now  in  the  National  Library  in  Paris.  The 
prose  portion  dates  probably  from  the  early  part  of  the 
tenth  century  and  the  poetic  a  little  later.^  Several 
of  the  Psalms  in  the  prose  version  are  probably  of 
Alfred's  translation,  and  possibly  all  of  them. 

In  the  preface  to  his  translation  of  the  Pastoral  Care 
of  Gregory,  which  he  made  for  the  instruction  of  the 
clergy  and  the  consequent  edifying  of  the  people, 
Alfred  wrote: — 

"I  thought  I  saw  how,  before  all  was  spoiled  and  burnt, 
the  churches  were  filled  with  treasures  of  books,  yet  but  little 
fruit  was  reaped  of  them,  for  men  could  understand  nothing 

^  See  A.  S.  Cook,  Bible  Quotations  in  Old  English  Prose  Writers,  pp.  xxvl- 
xxxiv. 

2  Gesta  Regum  Anglorum,  II,  123. 

'  See  A.  S.  Cook,  Biblical  Quotations  in  Old  English  Prose  Writers^ 
pp.  xxxiv-xlii,  for  a  discussion  of  the  probable  dates  of  the  Paris  Psalter 
and  Alfred's  share  in  the  translation. 


332  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  them,  as  they  were  not  written  in  their  own  native  tongue. 
Few  persons  south  of  the  Humber  could  understand  the 
services  in  EngHsh  or  translate  Latin  into  English.  I  think 
there  were  not  many  who  could  do  so  beyond  the  Humber, 
and  none  to  the  South  of  the  Thames." 


Alfred  translated  the  Pastoral  Care  of  Gregory,  which 
contained  numerous  passages  from  the  Bible.  He  trans- 
lated, or  had  translated,  also,  the  History  of  Orosius, 
the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Bede,  and  the  Consolation 
of  Philosophy  of  Bo6thius.  To  his  Laws  he  prefixed 
a  translation  of  the  Ten  Commandments.  In  the  Laws 
and  in  the  translation  of  Bede's  Ecclesiastical  History, 
and  Orosius's  History,  are  other  passages  from  the  Bible 
translated  by,  or  under  the  direction  of,  Alfred. 

What  are  known  as  the  West  Saxon  Gospels,  which 
are  translations  and  not  gfosses,  date  probably  from 
the  close  of  the  tenth  century.  The  authorship  of  the 
translations  is  unknown,  although  in  one  of  the  manu- 
scripts, that  in  the  Corpus  Christi  Library  at  Cam- 
bridge, is  a  note  at  the  end  of  Matthew  stating  that  it 
was  written  by  a  scholar  whose  name  was  iElfric,  and 
that  he  gave  it  to  Brihtwold.  Nothing  more  is  known 
of  either  of  these  men.  These  Saxon  Gospels  are  found 
in  seven  manuscripts  which  contain  many  variants  and 
which  probably  date  from  about  looo  to  1175.^ 

Mention  has  been  made  of  the  poetic  versions  of 
Genesis,  Exodus  and  Daniel,  formerly  attributed  to 
Caedmon,  and  belonging  to  the  eighth  century.  Two 
other  important  poems  which  make  free  use  of  Biblical 
material  are  the  Christ  of  Cynewulf,  eighth  century,  and 
the  Judith,  of  unknown  authorship,  and  of  uncertain 

*  For  an  account  of  them  see  A.  S.  Cook,  Biblical  Quotations  in  Old  English 
Prose  Writers^  pp.  lix-lxiv. 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  333 

date,  but  probably  of  the  ninth  century.  There  were 
also  a  number  of  varying  versions  of  the  Lord's  Prayer 
in  Anglo-Saxon. 

Aelfric  Grammaticus  (955-1020?)  translated  into 
Anglo-Saxon  a  considerable  part  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment and  also  of  the  Apocrypha,  hoping  by  means 
of  the  books  of  Judith,  and  the  Maccabees,  to  stir 
the  people  to  resist  vigorously  the  attacks  of  the 
Danes.  To  him  are  due  the  translation  of  the  Penta- 
teuch, Joshua,  Judges,  part  of  Kings,  Esther,  and  Job. 
In  the  Homilies  of  ^Ifric  in  Anglo-Saxon  are  many 
passages  of  Scripture  from  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ments and  from  the  Apocryphal  books.  ^Ifric  was 
fearful  lest  he  should  be  thought  to  have  done  an 
unwise  or  dangerous  thing  in  translating  portions  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  into  English,  and  refers  to  it  in 
the  Preface  to  his  Lives  of  the  Saints,  and  also  in  the 
Preface  to  his  version  of  Genesis  and  says,  in  the 
latter: — 

"When  you  [^thelweard  the  Earl]  desired  me,  honored 
friend,  to  translate  the  Book  of  Genesis,  from  Latin  into 
English,  I  was  loth  to  grant  your  request;  upon  which  you 
assured  me  that  I  should  need  to  translate  only  so  far  as  the 
account  of  Isaac,  Abrahams  son,  seeing  that  some  other  per- 
son had  rendered  it  for  you  from  that  point  to  the  end.  Now, 
I  am  concerned  lest  the  work  should  be  dangerous  for  me 
or  anyone  else  to  undertake,  because  I  fear  that,  if  some 
foolish  man  should  read  this  book  or  hear  it  read,  he  would 
imagine  that  he  could  live  now,  under  the  new  dispensation, 
just  as  the  patriarchs  lived  before  the  old  law  was  established, 
or  as  men  lived  under  the  law  of  Moses"  .  .  .  "We  say  in 
advance  that  this  book  has  a  very  profound  spiritual  signifi- 
cation, and  we  undertake  to  do  nothing  more  than  relate  the 
naked  facts.    The  uneducated  will  think  that  all  the  meaning 


334  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

is  included  in  the  simple  narrative,  while  such  is  by  no  means 
the  case  ...  "^ 

None  of  these  early  translations  of  portions  of  the 
Bible  modified  in  any  way  the  use  of  the  Latin  version 
in  the  services  of  the  Church.  The  attitude  towards 
the  Bible  on  the  part  of  JEUr'ic  was  general,  and  shows 
clearly  why  no  complete  translation  into  Anglo-Saxon 
ever  came  into  existence.  A  fact  of  great  interest  and 
importance  is  that  when  we  pass  from  the  period  of 
Old  English  to  that  of  Middle  English,  we  find  that 
translation  into  the  vernacular  ceased  until  the  four- 
teenth century,  with  the  better  education  of  the  clergy 
in  Latin,  and  with  the  increased  use  of  Latin,  as  exem- 
plified in  the  substitution  of  it  for  English  after  1150 
in  the  keeping  of  historical  annals. 

There  were,  however,  after  11 50  many  works  in  which 
Biblical  material  was  used  in  paraphrase,  or  the  retell- 
ing of  stories.  Religious  works  were  produced  in 
large  numbers,  and  there  are  collections  of  homilies 
from  the  twelfth  century  which  contain  Biblical  pas- 
sages or  paraphrases.  A  work  of  great  importance  is 
the  Ormulum  of  Orm,  or  Ormin,  (circa  1200),  who 
wrote  thirty-two  out  of  the  two  hundred  and  forty-two 
homilies  which  he  had  planned.  This  work  with  its 
introductory  material  consists  of  19,992  complete  verses. 
The  plan  of  the  author  was  to  paraphrase  the  Gospels  of 
the  Mass-Book  for  the  year  and  to  add  a  commentary 
or  homily  on  each  in  verse.  Orm  states  that  he  wrote 
in  order  that  simple  men  might  understand  the  teach- 
ings of  the  Church.  Paraphrases  of  Biblical  stories 
may  be  from  Latin  paraphrases,  and  not  directly  from 
the  Bible.     Of  these  there  are  a  number,  all,  except  a 

*  As  translated  in  A.  S.  Cook,  Biblical  Quotations  in  Old  English  Prose 
AtUhorSy  pp.  Ixx,  Ixxi. 


THE    ENGLISH    IN    BIBLE    MANUSCRIPT  335 

few,  in  verse.  The  Ormulum  and  metrical  paraphrases 
of  Genesis  and  Exodus  and  part  of  Numbers  and 
Deuteronomy  are  of  the  thirteenth  century,  the  others 
of  the  fourteenth.  The  Cursor  Mundi  contains  many 
Scripture  narratives  and  is  a  general  compendium  of 
religious  material.  There  were  other  religious  works  of 
information  and  instruction  in  which  were  quoted 
many  passages  of  Scripture.  The  most  notable  of  these 
was  the  Ancren  Rizvle,  the  manuscripts  of  which  date 
variously  from  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries. 
It  exists  in  English,  French,  and  Latin  versions,  and 
it  has  been  a  question  among  scholars  as  to  which 
version  was  the  earliest  or  original. 

In  the  fourteenth  century  we  find '  paraphrases, 
chiefly  metrical,  of  large  parts  of  the  Old  Testament. 
In  addition  to  these  are  some  notable  P.salters  of  which 
three  call  for  special  mention.  They  are  i.  the  Surtees 
Psalter,  so  called  because  published  by  the  Surtees 
Society,  consisting  of  a  translation  of  the  Book  of  Psalms 
into  English  from  the  Vulgate.  It  dates  probably 
from  the  first  half  of  the  fourteenth  century;  2.  Rolles' 
(1300-1349)  commentary  on  the  Psalter,  based  on 
Peter  Lombard's  Latin  Commentary,  and  itself  the 
basis  of  several  Lollard  revisions;  3.  the  West  Midland 
Prose  Psalter,  formerly  wrongly  attributed  to  William 
of  Shoreham,  which  contains  the  Psalms,  eleven  Can- 
ticles, and  the  Athanasian  Creed.  There  was  also  an 
English  version  of  Jerome's  Abbreviated  Psalter,  and 
paraphrases  and  commentaries  on  particular  Psalms. 

Of  the  New  Testament  there  were  paraphrases  of 
many  stories,  an  English  version  of  the  Pauline  Epis- 
tles, an  English  version  of  Clement  of  Lanthony's 
Harmony  of  the  Gospels  (circa  11 50),  a  translation  of 
the  Apocalypse  with  commentary,   and  several  com- 


336  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

mentaries  on  the  Gospels,  all  of  the  fourteenth  century. 
There  were  also  ballads  and  poems  in  which  New 
Testament  stories  were  told.  The  various  Legendaries, 
Temporales  and  Passionales  contained  much  Biblical 
material.^ 

THE   WYCLIFFITE   VERSIONS,    I380-I388 

Not  yet  was  there  any  complete  Bible  in  English. 
The  time  was  ripe  for  it,  and  through  the  labors  of 
John  Wycliffe  and  his  associates,  carried  on  through  a 
period  of  years,  the  work  of  translation  was  finished, 
and  the  Bible  was  set  forth,  probably  as  early  as  1382. 
That  there  was  no  English  version  earlier,  may  be  due 
in  part,  to  the  fact  that  after  the  Norman  Conquest, 
French  was  for  three  centuries  the  language  of  the 
upper  classes  and  of  educated  persons.  From  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fourteenth  century  we  find  great  changes  in 
the  use  of  English  by  the  upper  classes.  In  1362,  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  III,  Parliament  passed  an  act 
which  required: — 

"That  all  pleas  which  shall  be  pleaded  in  his  courts  .  .  . 
shall  be  pleaded,  showed,  defended,  answered,  debated  and 
judged  in  the  English  tongue." 

This  act  was  published  in  French,  and  required  that 
the  records  of  pleadings  should  be  kept  in  Latin. 

The  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century  gave  us 
the  beginnings  of  modern  English  literature  and  we  need 
only  mention  Wycliffe,  Gower,  and  Chaucer,  and  com- 
pare their  writings  with  what  had  preceded  them,  to 

^  An  account  of  works  derived  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  Bible  in  the 
Middle  English  period,  1050-1400,  will  be  found  in  ^  Manual  of  tfu  IVritings 
in  Middle  English  1030-1400,  by  J.  E.  Wells,  New  Haven,  1916. 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  337 

see  that  a  new  era  had  dawned.  "If  Chaucer  is  the 
father  of  our  later  English  poetry,  Wycliife  is  the  father 
of  our  later  English  prose.  The  rough,  clear,  homely 
English  of  his  tracts,  the  speech  of  the  ploughman  and 
the  trader  of  the  day,  though  colored  with  the  pictur- 
esque phraseology  of  the  Bible,  is,  in  its  literary  use,  as 
distinctly  a  creation  of  his  own  as  the  style  in  which  he 
embodied  it,  the  terse  vehement  sentences,  the  sting- 
ing sarcasms,  the  hard  antitheses,  which  roused  the 
dullest  mind  like  a  whip. "  ^ 

"  The  book  which  begot  English  prose  still  remains 
its  supreme  type.  The  English  Bible  is  the  true  school 
of  English  literature.  It  possesses  every  quality  of 
our  language  in  its  highest  form — except  for  scientific 
precision,  practical  affairs,  and  philosophic  analysis. 
It  would  be  ridiculous  to  write  an  essay  on  meta- 
physics, a  political  article,  or  a  novel  in  the  language 
of  the  Bible.  Indeed  it  would  be  ridiculous  to  write 
anything  at  all  in  the  language  of  the  Bible.  If  you 
care  to  know  the  best  that  our  literature  can  give  in 
simple  noble  prose — mark,  learn,  and  inwardly  digest 
the  Holy  Scriptures  in  the  English  tongue."  ^ 

We  do  not  know  precisely  what  parts  of  the  transla- 
tion, if  any,  are  Wycliffe's  own,  but  it  is  believed  that 
he  translated  the  New  Testament  almost  entirely,  and 
that  the  Old  Testament  is,  in  considerable  part,  the 
work  of  Nicholas  of  Hereford.  Other  friends  worked 
with  these,  but  it  is  to  Wycliffe's  influence  that  we  owe 
this  translation. 

No  man  was  better  fitted  for  the  task.  Educated  at 
Oxford,  where  he  received  the  best  teaching  of  his  time 

*  J.  R.  Green,  History  of  the  English  People,  London,  1877-1880,  vol.  i, 
p.  489. 

2  Frederic  Harrison,  Tennyson,  Ruskin,  Mill  and  other  Literary  Estimatesy 
New  York,  1902,  p.  165. 


338  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

in  the  Arts  and  Sciences,  Theology  and  Law,  he  is 
said  to  have  been  Fellow  of  Merton  in  1357,  but  this 
is  uncertain,  and  Master  of  Balliol  in  1361.  He  was 
also  a  Doctor  in  the  Faculty  of  Theology,  and  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Royal  Commission  sent  to 
Bruges  to  treat  with  the  Papal  Embassy.  He  was 
Rector  of  Fylingham  in  Lincolnshire,  and  for  a  while 
Warden  of  Canterbury  Hall,  and  Rector  of  Lutter- 
worth, where  he  died  in  1384.  It  has  been  suggested 
that  Wycliffe  may  have  been  in  Chaucer's  mind  when 
he  wrote  the  description  of  the  "Good  Man. "  Whether 
this  is  so  or  not,  the  life  of  Wycliife  seems  from  all  ac- 
counts of  it  to  have  been  in  full  accord  with  Chaucer's 
idea  of  what  a  good  priest  ought  to  be. 

Wycliffe's  New  Testament,  1380?  and  Bible,  1382.'^ 
were  in  manuscript,  as  printing  had  not  yet  been  in- 
vented. Copies  were  made,  and  in  a  very  short  time  a 
revision  was  undertaken,  perhaps  by  John  Purvey,  a 
follower  of  Wycliffe.  The  New  Testament  included  the 
Epistle  to  the  Laodiceans,  inserted  after  the  Epistle  to 
the  Colossians.  What  is  known  as  Purvey's  version 
was  completed  perhaps  in  1388.  The  ascription  of  this 
work  to  Purvey  was  made  first  by  Daniel  Waterton  in 
1729.^  Forshall  and  Madden  accepted  this  as  fact  in 
their  edition  of  the  two  versions  in  1850.  We  have  no 
proof  that  Purvey  was  the  author  of  the  translation. 
What  is  stated  by  the  anonymous  author  is,  that  he 
worked  with  "diverse  felawisand  helpars"  and  "mania 
gode  felawis  and  kunnynge  at  the  correccioun  of  his 
translacion. "  Mr.  Pollard  suggests  that  the  version 
of  John  of  Trevisa,  mentioned  by  Caxton,  may  perhaps 
"be  identified,  either  with  the  completion  of  the  first 
version  begun  by  Nicholas  of  Hereford,  or  with  the 
*  Daniel  Waterton,  Worksy  vol.  x,  p.  361. 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  339 

second  version,  which   has  somewhat  Hghtly  been  as- 
signed to  Purvey."  ^ 

It  had  been  common  to  add  marginal  notes  to  the 
Latin  Bibles,  and  the  Wycliffite  versions  contained 
such  notes,  also  prologues  to  the  books.  This  feature 
is  of  importance,  as  we  shall  see,  in  the  history  of  the 
Bible  in  English.  As  a  specimen  of  these  prologues 
we  may  take  that  to  Ruth : — 

"Prologue  on  the  book  of  Ruth.  This  book  Ruth  shewith 
the  feithfulnesse  and  stidefast  love  of  this  wumman  Ruth  to 
the  moder  of  her  hosebonde,  after  the  death  of  her  hosebonde 
and  sones,  tumynge  agen  fro  the  lond  of  Moab  into  Beth- 
leem  of  Juda;  wherefor  God  dide  merci  to  Ruth,  and  sche 
was  wedid  to  Booz,  a  wurthi  man  of  Bethleem,  and  is  rekened 
in  the  genologie  of  Davith  and  of  Crist." 

Wycliffe's  Bible  was  never  printed  until  1850,  when 
it  was  issued  with  the  following  title: — 

"The  Holy  Bible,  containing  the  Old  and  New  Testaments, 
with  the  Apocryphal  Books,  in  the  earliest  English  Versions 
made  from  the  Latin  Vulgate  by  John  WyclifFe  and  his  fol- 
lowers: edited  by  the  Rev.  Josiah  Forshall,  F.  R.  S.  etc.  and 
Sir  Frederic  Madden,  K.  H.,  F.  R.  S.,  etc.,  Oxford,  at  the 
University  Press,  1850.    Four  volumes." 

The  only  early  copies  are  manuscripts,  of  which 
Bishop  Westcott  mentions  as  extant  "about  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy  copies  of  the  whole  or  part, "  of  which 
"fifteen  of  the  Old  Testament  and  eighteen  of  the  New 
belong  to  the  original  version.  The  remainder  are  of 
Purvey's   revision."  ^ 

*  A.  W.  PollarJ,  Bibliographical  Introduction  to  Reprint  of  161 1  Version, 

P-  5- 

2  B.  F.  Westcott,  History  of  the  English  Bible,  London,  1868,  p.  24. 


340  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  writings  of  WyclifFe  and  his  followers  were 
sought  out  and  burned  in  the  stormy  days  of  religious 
persecution  that  followed.  Wycliffe's  Prologue  was 
printed  in  1550  with  the  following  title: — 

"The  True  Copye  of  a  Prolog  wrytten  about  c.  yeres  paste 
by  John  WycklifFe.  (As  maye  justly  be  gatherid  bi  that, 
that  John  Bale  hath  writte  of  him  in  his  boke  entitlid  the 
Summaiie  of  famouse  writers  of  the  He  of  Great  Britain), 
the  Originall  whereof  is  founde  written  in  an  olde  English 
Bible  bitwixt  the  Olde  Testamente  and  the  Newe,  whych 
Bible  remaynith  now  in  ye  Kyng  hys  Maiesties  Chamber. 
London;  Robert  Crowly,  1550." 

In  1408  at  Oxford  the  Provincial  Council  forbade 
the  translating  of  the  Bible  into  the  vulgar  tongue,  or 
the  expounding  of  the  same,  without  special  authority  of 
the  Council.  The  following  is  a  translation  of  a  portion 
of  the  decree: — 

"We  therefore  enact  and  ordain  that  no  one  henceforth  on 
his  own  authority  translate  any  text  of  Holy  Scripture  into 
the  English  or  other  language,  by  way  of  a  book,  pamphlet, 
or  tract,  and  that  no  book,  pamphlet,  or  tract  of  this  kind  be 
read,  either  already  recently  composed  in  the  time  of  the 
said  John  Wyclif,  or  since  then,  or  that  may  in  future  be 
composed,  in  part  or  in  whole,  publicly  or  privily,  under  pain 
of  the  greater  excommunication,  until  the  translation  itself 
shall  have  been  approved  by  the  diocesan  of  the  place  or  if 
need  be  by  a  provincial  council.  Whoever  shall  do  the  con- 
trary to  be  punished  in  like  manner  as  a  supporter  of  heresy 
and  error."  ^ 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that  nearly 

^  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  the  Documents  relating  to  the 
Translation  and  Publication  of  the  Bible  in  English,  1525-1611,  London,  191 1, 
p.  80. 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  34 1 

half  the  extant  copies  of  the  Wycliffite  versions  "are 
of  a  small  size,  such  as  could  be  made  the  constant 
daily  companion  of  their  owners. "  ^  The  Scriptures  in 
English  for  the  owning  of  which  many  persons  were 
prosecuted,  in  the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
as  told  in  Foxe's  Martyrs,  must  have  been  copies  of  the 
Wycliffe  or  Purvey  versions. 

Wycliffe's  "Apology"  sets  forth  his  purpose  in  trans- 
lating, and  refers  to  Bede  and  Alfred  as  his  predecessors 
in  the  work  of  making  the  Bible  accessible  to  the  people 
in  the  vernacular.    He  says: — 

"Oh  Lord  God!  sithin  at  the  beginning  of  faith,  so  many 
men  translated  into  Latin  to  great  profit  of  Latin  men;  let 
one  simple  creature  of  God  translate  into  English  for  profit 
of  Englishmen.  For  if  worldly  clerks  look  well  their  chron- 
icles and  books  they  shoulden  find  that  Bede  translated  the 
Bible  and  expounded  much  in  Saxon,  that  was  English  either 
common  language  of  this  land  in  his  time.  And  not  only 
Bede,  but  King  Alfred  that  founded  Oxenford,  translated  so 
his  last  days  the  beginning  of  the  Psalter  in  Saxon  and  would 
more  if  he  had  lived  longer.  Also  Frenchmen,  Beemers, 
and  Britons  han  the  Bible  and  other  books  of  devotion  and 
exposition  translated  into  their  mother  language.  Why 
shoulden  not  Englishmen  have  the  same  in  their  mother 
language?    I  cannot  wit." 

Although  our  modern  English  versions  are  indebted 
chiefly  to  William  Tindale  for  their  language,  yet  many 
of  the  most  familiar  expressions  to-day  are  from  Wy- 
cliffe, such  as  the  beam  and  mote,  the  trampling  under 
feet  of  swine  and  the  rending  of  dogs,  "  the  Comforter," 
for  Paraclete,  the  Saxon  phrase  "God  forbid,"  and  the 
Beatitudes : — 

1  B.  F.  Westcott,  The  History  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  24. 


342  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"  And  Jhesus  seynge  the  puple  went  up  in  to  an  hil,  and 
whan  he  was  sette  hise  disciplis  camen  to  hym.  And  he 
opened  his  mouth  and  taughte  hem,  and  seide. 

**  Blessid  be  pore  men  in  spirit:  for  the  kyngdom  of  hevenes 
is  hem. 

**  Blessid  be  mylde  men:  for  thei  schulen  weeld  the  erthe. 

**  Blessid  be  thei  thatmoornen:  for  thei  schulen  be  coun- 
fortide. 

"Blessid  ben  thei  that  hungren  and  thirsten  rightwisnesse: 
for  thei  schulen  be  fulfillid. 

** Blessid  ben  merciful  men:  for  thei  schulen  gete  merci. 

**  Blessid  ben  thei  that  ben  of  clene  herte:  for  thei  schuln  se 
god. 

'Blessid  be  pesible  men:  for  thei  schuln  be  clepid  goddis 
children. 

**  Blessid  ben  thei  that  suffren  persecucioun  for  rightwis- 
nesse: for  the  kyngdom  of  hevenes  is  hern."  WyclifFe,  1380 — 
Bagster  Hexapla. 

Wycliffe  was  not  content  merely  to  translate  the 
Bible.  He  was  desirous  that  the  people  for  whom  he 
had  translated  it  should  read  it,  and  hear  it  read.  He 
sent  out  men,  "poor  priests,"  with  copies  of  the  trans- 
lation to  read  to  all  who  wished  to  hear.  The  direct 
influence  of  this  was  very  great.  He  put  the  Bible  Into 
the  English  of  the  people,  and  In  so  doing  opened  to 
them  the  treasures  of  Bible  story.  As  Dr.  Storrs  has 
said: — 

"How  vast  the  impression  produced  by  the  version  which 
thus  burst  into  use,  not  on  language  only,  but  on  life,  in  the 
whole  sphere  of  moral,  social,  spiritual,  even  political  expe- 
rience, who  shall  declare!  To  the  England  of  his  time,  con- 
fused, darkened,  with  dim  outlook  over  this  world  or  the 
next,  the  Lutterworth  Rector  brought  the  superlative  educa- 
tional force.    He  opened  before  it,  in  the  Bible,  long  avenues 


THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IN   MANUSCRIPT  343 

of  history.  He  made  it  familiar  with  the  most  enchanting 
and  quickening  sketches  of  personal  character  ever  pencilled. 
He  carried  it  to  distant  lands  and  peoples,  further  than 
crusaders  had  gone  with  Richard,  further  than  Alfred's 
messengers  had  wandered.  It  saw  again  *the  city  of  palms' 
in  sudden  ruin,  and  heard  the  echoes  of  cymbal  and  shawn 
from  the  earliest  Temple.  The  grandest  poetry  became  its 
possession;  the  sovereign  law,  on  which  the  blaze  of  Sinai 
shone,  or  which  glowed  with  serene  light  of  divinity  from 
the  Mount  of  Beatitudes.  Inspired  minds  came  out  of  the 
past — Moses,  David,  Isaiah,  John,  the  Man  of  Idumea,  the 
man  of  Tarsus — to  teach  by  this  version  the  long-desiring 
English  mind.  It  gave  peasants  the  privilege  of  those 
who  had  heard  Elijah's  voice  in  the  ivory  palaces,  of  those 
who  had  seen  the  heaven  opened  by  the  river  of  Chebar, 
of  those  who  had  gathered  before  *the  temples  made  with 
hands'  which  crowned  the  Acropolis.  They  looked  into  the 
faces  of  apostles  and  martyrs,  of  seers  and  kings,  and  walked 
with  Abraham  in  the  morning  of  time."  ^ 

»  R.  S.  Storrs,  John  Wy cliff e  and  the  First  English  Bible,  New  York,  1880, 
p.  72. 


CHAPTER  XVII 

THE  PRINTED  ENGLISH  BIBLE  1525-1539 

As  time  went  on  and  copies  of  the  Bible  in  English 
multiplied,  its  influence  on  the  thoughts  and  language 
of  the  people  increased  likewise,  and  this,  while  pri- 
marily due  to  religion,  was  due  also  to  the  interest  of 
the  people  in  a  kind  of  literature  that  took  hold  on 
their  hearts.  Later,  May  6,  1541,  after  Tindale's  and 
Coverdale's  and  the  Great  Bible  had  been  printed, 
Cromwell,  as  Vicar  General,  by  authority  of  Henry 
VIII  notified  every  curate  "that  one  book  of  the  whole 
Bible,  of  the  largest  volume  in  English,  should  be  set 
up  in  some  convenient  place  within  the  church."  Day 
after  day  crowds  gathered  around  these  Bibles  to  hear 
them  read  aloud.  "So  far  as  the  nation  at  large  was 
concerned,  no  history,  no  romance,  hardly  any  poetry 
save  the  little-known  verse  of  Chaucer,  existed  in  the 
English  tongue  when  the  Bible  was  ordered  to  be  set 
up  in  churches.^  " 

The  printing  of  a  Bible  in  English,  in  England,  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  the  sixteenth  century,  would  have 
been  dangerous  for  the  man  who  did  it,  so,  for  this 
reason,  the  early  editions  were  printed  abroad,  but 
Caxton,  the  first  English  printer,  translated  from 
Latin  the  popular  Golden  Legend,  written  by  Jacobus 
de  Voragine,  an  Italian,  who  died  in  1298.  This  collec- 
tion of  stories  of  saints,  martyrs,  and  ecclesiastics,  was 
reprinted  many  times,  after  1470,  when  the  first  printed 

^  J.  R.  Green,  History  of  the  English  PeopUy  vol.  3,  p.  10. 
344 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  345 

edition  appeared.  Caxton  protected  himself  against 
censure  by  reprinting  the  legends,  but  added  to  the 
volume  many  Bible  stories,  not  in  the  original,  and  in 
this  way  made  accessible  in  printed  form  much  of 
the  Bible,  including  stories  from  the  Apocrypha.  Cax- 
ton's  Golden  Legend,  1483,  contains  the  first  printing 
in  English  of  any  portion  of  the  Bible.  The  first  book 
printed  from  movable  type  was  the  Mazarin  Bible, 
1455-6,  of  Gutenberg.  The  first  printed  book  bear- 
ing a  date  was  the  Psalter,  1457,  of  Gutenberg.  In 
1505  a  portion  of  the  Psalms  was  printed.  These  were 
in  Latin.  Tindale's  New  Testament,  issued  in  two 
editions,  a  quarto  and  an  octavo,  both  in  1525,  rep- 
resents the  first  printing  of  any  complete  division  of 
the  Bible  in  English. 

Caxton  is  the  authority  for  the  statement  that  John 
of  Trevisa  translated  the  Bible,  a  statement  repeated  in 
the  preface  to  the  161 1  version.  Caxton's  statement, 
in  the  preface  to  Higden's  Polychronicon,  is  that  John 
of  Trevisa  at  the  request  of  "one  Sir  Thomas  Barkley" 
had  translated  the  Polychronicon,  the  Bible,  and  the 
De  Proprietatihus  Rerum  of  Bartholomaeus  Anglicus. 
We  have  two  of  these,  but  know  nothing  of  the  Bible 
translation. 

There  are  several  reasons  why  the  Wycliffite  versions 
were  superseded  by  others.  One  was  that  much  of 
the  language  became  obsolete,  another  that  they  were 
translations  from  the  Latin  version  of  Jerome,  the  Vul- 
gate, which,  although  the  authoritative  Bible  of  the 
Western  Church,  was  itself  a  translation  from  the 
original  Hebrew  and  Greek.  Hebrew  and  Greek  texts 
of  the  Bible  were  printed  later  and  thus  became  readily 
accessible  to  scholars. 

The  capture  of  Constantinople  by   the  Turks,   in 


346  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

1453,  drove  to  the  West  scholars  from  the  capital  of  the 
Eastern  Empire,  where  Greek  learning  had  flourished. 
These  scholars  brought  with  them  Greek  manuscripts, 
and  it  was  probably  on  the  basis  of  manuscripts  thus 
made  accessible  to  Western  Europe,  which  prior  to 
this  had  received  its  Greek  literature  chiefly  through 
Latin  sources,  that  Erasmus  was  able  to  issue  in  15 16 
his  New  Testament  in  the  original  Greek,  with  a 
Latin  translation.  He  issued  a  second  edition  in  15 19 
with  more  than  three  hundred  changes.  Aldus  had 
reprinted,  at  Venice  in  15 18,  the  first  edition,  with 
over  two  hundred  corrections.  The  third  edition  in 
1522  contains  for  the  first  time  the  verse  I  John,  5:7, 
which  had  long  been  in  the  Vulgate,  but  could  not  be 
found  in  any  early  Greek  manuscript.  It  appears 
with  differences  in  two  manuscripts,  one  that  of  Dr. 
Moulfort,  probably  of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  one  in 
the  Vatican,  of  about  the  same  age.  From  the  former 
Erasmus  took  it.  The  Complutensian  New  Testa- 
ment, the  first  printed  Greek  Testament,  although 
printed  15 14-17,  was  not  published  until  1520  when 
Pope  Leo  X  sanctioned  it.  Erasmus  used  it  in  prepar- 
ing his  fourth  edition  in  1527,  and  a  fifth,  differing 
from  it  in  only  four  places,  in  1535.  The  fourth  edition 
of  Erasmus  was  the  most  important. 

Aldus  printed  the  Septuagint  in  15 18.  The  Old 
Testament  had  been  printed  in  Hebrew,  the  Psalms  in 
1477  at  Bologna;  the  Law  in  1482;  the  Hebrew  Scrip- 
tures in  1488  at  Soncino  Lombardy;  in  1491-93  at 
Naples;  in  1494  at  Brescia.  In  1518  and  1525  the  Old 
Testament  was  printed  in  Hebrew  under  the  direction 
of  the  Rabbis.  Between  15 14  and  15 17  the  Complu- 
tensian Polyglot  (Hebrew,  Greek,  Latin),  had  been 
printed  at  Alcala  (Latin  Complutum),  in  Spain,  under 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  347 

the  care  of  Cardinal  Ximenes.  This  consisted  of  (i) 
the  Hebrew  text  of  the  Old  Testament  with  the  Aramaic 
parts,  (2)  the  Targum  of  Onkelos  to  the  Pentateuch, 
(3)  the  Septuagint,  (4)  the  Vulgate,  (5)  the  Greek  New 
Testament.  Latin  translations  of  the  Septuagint  and 
the  Targum  were  printed  with  them. 

With  this  array  of  original  sources,  which  had  not 
been  accessible  to  Wycliffe,  the  way  was  open  for  a 
translation  of  the  Bible  into  English  from  Hebrew  and 
Greek.  Luther  published  the  New  Testament  in 
German  in  1522  from  the  Greek  of  Erasmus,  and  the 
Old  Testament  in  1534  on  the  basis  of  the  Massoretic 
Hebrew  text  of  1494,  edited  by  Ben  Moseh.  Luther 
placed  the  Apocryphal  books  in  a  group  by  themselves, 
as  the  books  were  not  in  Hebrew.  This  was  done  in 
the  other  Protestant  versions.  He  used  also  the 
Septuagint  and  the  Vulgate,  as  well  as  the  Hebrew,  in 
making  his  version. 

tindale's  translations,  1 525-1 53 5 

The  decree  of  1408  had  forbidden  any  person  to 
undertake  the  translation  of  the  Bible  without  special 
authorization.  The  publication  of  the  Greek  Testa- 
ment with  a  Latin  translation  by  Erasmus  in  15 16, 
with  revision  and  reprinting  in  15 19  and  1522,  and  the 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  from  Greek  into 
German  by  Luther,  printed  In  1522,  probably  had 
great  influence  in  leading  William  Tindale,  who  had 
studied  at  both  Oxford  and  Cambridge,  who  may  have 
heard  Erasmus  lecture  at  Cambridge,  and  who  was 
fired  by  zeal  to  place  the  Bible  In  the  hands  of  the 
people,  to  proceed  to  London  to  ask  from  the  Bishop 
of  London,  Cuthbert  Tunstall,  authority  to  make  a 


348  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

translation  of  the  New  Testament  directly  from  the 
Greek,  not  as  in  the  case  of  all  previous  English  ver- 
sions from  the  Latin.  In  the  Preface  to  Genesis  in 
Tindale's  translation  of  the  Pentateuch,  he  relates  his 
experiences,  and  tells  how  he  brought  with  him  to 
London  "an  Oration  of  Isocrates,  which  he  had  then 
translated  out  of  Greeke  into  Englishe"  as  evidence  of 
his  ability.  It  must  be  remembered  that  only  a  short 
time  before  this,  Greek  had  been,  for  the  first  time, 
introduced  in  the  Universities  of  Oxford  and  Cam- 
bridge. It  was  only  after  having  been  refused  room  in 
the  Bishop's  house  to  translate  the  New  Testament, 
that  Tindale,  financially  assisted  by  "Humphrey 
Monmouth  and  certain  other  good  men — tooke  hys 
leave  of  the  realm  and  departed  into  Germanic."  Tin- 
dale  had  declared  to  a  learned  divine,  with  whom  he 
had  been  arguing,  "If  God  spare  my  life,  ere  many 
years,  I  will  cause  a  boy  that  driveth  the  plough  shall 
know  more  of  the  Scripture  than  thou  dost." 

It  was  a  time  of  religious  controversy,  and  this  had 
much  to  do  with  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into 
German  by  Luther,  and  the  New  Testament,  1525, 
the  Pentateuch,  1530,  and  lessons  from  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 1534,  into  English  by  Tindale,  who  declared 
in  the  Preface  to  Genesis: — 

"...  I  had  perceaved  by  experyence,  how  that  it  was  im- 
possible to  stablysh  the  laye  people  in  any  truth,  excepte  the 
Scripture  were  playnly  layde  before  their  eyes  in  their  mother 
tonge,  that  they  might  se  the  processe,  ordre  and  meaninge 
of  the  texts."  ^ 

Wycliffe  and  Tindale  endeavored  to  put  the  Bible 
into  the  actual  language  of  the  common  people.     Of 

»  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  95. 


THE   PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  349 

the  spirit  in  which  Tindale  worked  and  of  his  attitude 
towards  his  own  work,  we  have  two  statements  from 
the  two  editions  of  his  New  Testament,  the  first,  from 
the  Prologue  to  the  unique  copy  of  the  Cologne  frag- 
ment of  1525  in  the  British  Museum: — 

"I  have  here  translated  (brethren  and  susters  moost  dere 
and  tenderly  beloved  in  Christ)  the  newe  Testament  for 
youre  spirituall  edyfyinge,  consolacion,  and  solas: 

"  Exhortynge  instantly  and  besechynge  those  that  are 
better  sene  in  the  tongues  then  y,  and  that  have  hyer  gyftes  of 
grace  to  interpret  the  sence  of  the  scripture,  and  meanynge  of 
the  spyrite,  then  y,  to  consydre  and  pondre  my  laboure,  and 
that  with  the  spyrite  of  mekenes.  And  yf  they  perceyve  in 
eny  places  that  y  have  not  attayned  the  very  sence  of  the 
tonge,  or  meanynge  of  the  scripture,  or  have  not  given  the 
right  englysshe  worde,  that  they  put  to  there  handes  to 
amende  it,  remembrynge  that  so  is  there  duetie  to  doo."  ^ 

Tindale's  second  statement  is  in  the  Epilogue  to  the 
Worms  edition  of  the  New  Testament: — 

"Them  that  are  learned  Christenly,  I  beseche  .  .  .  that 
the  rudnes  off  the  worke  nowe  at  the  fyrst  tyme,  ofFende 
them  not:  but  that  they  consyder  howe  that  I  had  no  man 
to  counterfet,  nether  was  holpe  with  englysshe  of  eny  that 
had  interpreted  the  same,  or  soche  lyke  thinge  in  the  scrip- 
ture before  tyme.  Moreover,  even  very  necessitie  and  com- 
brance  (God  is  recorde)  above  strengthe,  which  I  will  re- 
hearce,  lest  we  shulde  seme  to  host  ourselves,  caused  that 
many  thynges  are  lackinge,  which  necessaryly  are  requyred. 
Count  it  as  a  thynge  not  havynge  his  full  shape,  but  as  it 
were  borne  afore  hys  tyme,  even  as  a  thing  begunne  rather 
then  fynnesshed.  In  tyme  to  come  (yf  god  have  apoynted 
us  there  unto)  we  will  geve  it  his  full  shape;  and  putt  out  yf 
1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  in. 


350  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

ought  be  added  superfluusly:  and  adde  to  yfF  ought  be  over- 
sene  thorowe  negligence:  and  will  enfoarce  to  brynge  to 
compendeousnes,  that  which  is  nowe  translated  at  the 
lengthe,  and  to  geve  lyght  where  it  is  requyred,  and  to  seke 
in  certayne  places  more  proper  englysshe,  and  with  a  table 
to  expounde  the  wordes  which  are  nott  commenly  used,  and 
shewe  howe  the  scripture  useth  many  wordes,  which  are 
wother  wyse  understonde  of  the  commen  people,  and  to  helpe 
with  a  declaracion  where  one  tonge  taketh  nott  another."  ^ 

Much  has  been  made  of  Tindale's  statement  that 
he  was  not  "holpe  with  englysshe  of  eny  that  had  inter- 
preted the  same. "  A  reading  of  the  context  will  show 
that  he  may  have  meant  that  he  had  no  copies  of  the 
Wycliffite  versions  in  his  possession,  as  he  doubtless 
carried  little,  if  anything,  with  him  in  the  way  of  books 
or  manuscripts  when  he  left  England.  His  exhorta- 
tion to  others  to  assist  in  improving  the  translation 
shows  that  he  would  not  have  neglected  to  consult 
other  English  versions  if  he  had  possessed  them. 
That  he  was  familiar  with  other  versions  is  implied 
by  his  reference  to  them.  That  he  was  unfamiliar 
with  the  Wycliffite  versions  seems  impossible  in  view 
of  the  fact  that  he  was  an  Oxford  man  and  that  he  was 
in  entire  sympathy  with  the  religious  views  of 
Wycliffe  and  his  followers,  by  whom  the  Wycliffite 
translations  were  read  and  expounded. 

Tindale  retained  most  of  the  characteristics  of  the 
Wycliffite  translation,  especially  its  grammatical  struc- 
ture and  its  rhythmic  flow  as  well  as  its  beautiful 
phrases.  Whether  Tindale  consciously  endeavored  to 
follow  the  Wycliffite  versions,  or  not,  it  seems  probable 
that  these  versions  had  actually  established,  in  a  gen- 
eral way,  a  style  that  was  to  be  developed  through 
Ubld.,  p.  ii6. 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  351 

several  steps  into  the  Bible  English  which  we  recognize 
instantly  to-day.  With  both  Wycliffe  and  Tindale  the 
English  of  the  Bible  was  the  language  of  the  people,  as 
it  was  spoken  by  educated  men.  It  was,  therefore,  free 
from  the  inaccuracies  and  inelegancies  of  the  vulgar, 
and  likewise  free  from  the  affectations  of  the  Court. 
It  is  Tindale's  version,  however,  and  not  the  Wycliffite, 
largely,  perhaps,  because  the  latter  versions  were  not 
printed,  and  also  because  they  were  not  direct  transla- 
tions from  the  original  languages,  that  is  rightly  re- 
garded as  the  basis  of  subsequent  English  translations, 
except  perhaps  that  of  Rheims-Douay,  which  will  be 
discussed  later.  How  great  is  the  indebtedness  of  later 
versions  to  Tindale  is  shown  clearly  in  the  following 
passage,  in  which  the  italics  indicate  what  was  retained 
in  the  King  James  Version : — 

13.  But  nowe  in  Christ  Jesu,  ye  whych  a  whyle  agoo  were 
Jarre  off,  are  made  neye  by  the  bloude  off  Christ. 

14.  For  he  is  oure  peace,  whych  hath  made  off  both  wone  ad 
hath  broken  doune  the  wall  i  the  myddes,  that  was  a  stoppe 
bitwene  vs. 

15.  And  hath  also  put  awaye  thorowe  his  flesshe,  the  cause 
of  hatred  (thatt  is  to  saye,  the  lawe  of  comaundemente  con- 
tayned  in  the  lawe  writte). 

16.  For  to  make  of  twayne  wone  newe  ma  in  hym  silfe,  so 
makynge  peace:  and  to  reconcile  bothe  unto  god  in  one  body 
throwe  his  crosse,  ad  slewe  hattred  therby. 

17.  And  cam  and  preached  peace  to  you  which  were  afarre  of, 
and  to  them  that  were  neye. 

18.  For  thorowe  hym  we  bothe  have  an  open  waye  in,  in  one 
sprete  unto  the  father. 

19.  Nowe  therefore  ye  are  no  moare  strangers  dd  foreners: 
hut  citesyns  with  the  saynctes,  and  of  the  housholde  of  god. 

20.  And  are  bilt  apo  the  foundacion  of  the  apostles  ad  proph- 
etes,  Jesus  Christ  beynge  the  heed  corner  stone. 


352  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

21.  7  whom  every  hildynge  coupled  togedder^  groweth  unto 
a  holy  teple  in  the  lorde. 

22.  /  who  ye  also  are  hilt  togedder,  and  made  an  hahitacion 
for  god  I  the  sprete.    Ephesians,  2:13-22.    Tindale  1525.^ 

That  Tindale's  version  is  a  product,  in  some  respects, 
of  the  rehgious  controversies  of  the  time  was  recognized 
at  once  by  those  who  were  opposed  to  the  attitude  of 
Luther  and  other  reformers  in  regard  to  ecclesiastical 
matters.  Certain  words,  the  use  of  which  had  become 
technical,  were  avoided  by  Tindale  for  that  reason, 
although  in  their  non-technical  senses  they  might  per- 
haps have  been  used  by  him  as  English  equivalents  of 
the  originals.  The  following  contemporary  criticism 
of  Tindale's  translation  indicates  the  attitude  of  many 
toward  it: — 

"By  this  translation  shal  we  losse  al  thies  christian  wordes, 
penance,  charitie,  confession,  grace,  prest,  chirche,  which  he 
alway  calleth  a  congregation."  ^ 

"For  he  hath  mystranslated  iii  wordes  of  gret  weyght  and 
every  one  of  them  is  as  I  suppose  more  than  thryes  three 
tymes  repeted  and  rehersed  in  the  boke.  .  .  .  The  tone 
ys  quod  I  this  word  prestys.  The  tother,  the  chyrch.  The 
thyrd  charyte.  For  prestis  wher  so  ever  he  speketh  of  the 
prestes  of  Crystis  chirch  he  never  calleth  them  prestes  but 
always  senyours,  the  chyrch  he  calleth  alway  the  congre- 
gacyon,  and  charyte  he  calleth  all  love  love."  ^ 

The  first  edition  of  Tindale's  New  Testament  was 
printed  at  Worms  in  1525  in  octavo  size  in  an  edition 
of  3,cxx)  copies.    Tindale  had  been  obliged  to  flee  from 

1  B.  F.  Westcott,  History  of  the  English  BibU,  pp.  176-8. 

'A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p-  124.  A  quotation  from 
a  letter  of  Robert  Ridley  in  IS27(?),  from  the  British  Museum  Cotton  Ms. 
Cleopatra  E.  v.  362b. 

•  Ibid.,  p.  127,  A  Dyalogue  of  Syr  Thomas  More. 


THE   PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  353 

Cologne  with  the  printed  sheets,  in  quarto  size,  of  a 
part  of  his  translation.  This  original  edition  was  per- 
haps completed  at  Worms,  likewise  in  an  edition  of 
3,000  copies.  The  octavo  consisted  simply  of  the  text 
with  a  three-page  address  "To  the  Reder"  appended. 
The  translator's  name  is  not  given.  The  quarto  con- 
tained a  long  prologue  and  ninety-one  marginal  notes 
or  glosses,  more  than  half  of  which  were  from  Luther's 
New  Testament,  the  remainder  being  Tindale's.  Of 
the  octavo  only  two  copies,  both  imperfect,  are  known. 
The  Baptist  College  at  Bristol  possesses  one,  lacking 
only  the  first  leaf.  A  more  imperfect  copy  is  at  St. 
Paul's  Cathedral.  The  thirty-one  leaves  still  extant 
of  the  Cologne  fragment  are  in  the  British  Museum. 
No  copy  is  extant  of  the  Worms  quarto,  for  the  exist- 
ence of  which  Johann  Dobneck,  who  called  himself 
Cochlaeus,  is  authority.  He  was  instrumental  in  caus- 
ing Tindale  to  flee  from  Cologne  to  Worms  and  in  his 
Commentaria  Joannis  Cochlc^i,  de  Actis  et  Scriptis 
Martini  Lutheri,  1549,  gives  an  account  of  it,  having 
previously  in  1533  and  1538  written  about  Tindale.^ 
Copies  of  Tindale's  translation  were  brought  to  Eng- 
land in  1526,  but,  as  it  was  unlawful  to  possess  one,  and 
as  every  effort  was  made  to  find  and  burn  them,  the 
Bishop  of  London  buying  all  copies  he  could  for  this 
purpose,  it  is  not  surprising  that  so  few  copies  are 
extant. 

Tindale  undoubtedly  used  Luther's  German  versiorx, 
the  Vulgate,  and  the  Latin  translation  of  Erasmus,  as 
well  as  the  Greek  text.  He  was  accused  of  having 
simply  translated  Luther's  version,  but  this  accusation 
is  not  true,   although  the  prefatory  matter  and  the 

1  See  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  pp.  99-108,  for  Dobneck's 
account  of  the  printing  of  the  first  New  Testament. 


354  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

notes,  as  well  as  the  translation,  show  the  influence  of 
Luther.  Tindale  proceeded  with  the  work  of  trans- 
lating the  Bible,  and  to  a  revision  of  his  New  Testament 
printed  in  November,  1534,  at  Antwerp,  he  added  Eng- 
lish versions  of  the  Old  Testament  lessons.  He  had 
published  in  1530-31  a  translation  of  the  Pentateuch, 
also  "The  prophet  Jonas,  with  an  introduction  before, 
teachinge  to  understande  him  and  the  right  use  also 
of  all  the  scripture."  The  only  copy  of  Tindale's  Jonah 
is  in  the  British  Museum.  Tindale  died  without  having 
completed  an  English  version  of  the  Bible.  He  had, 
however,  translated  more  than  he  had  printed,  and 
left  in  manuscript  an  English  version  of  Joshua  to  H 
Chronicles,  inclusive: — 

"  This  man  [Tindale]  translated  the  New  testament  into 
Englishe  and  fyrst  put  it  in  Prynt,  and  likewise  he  translated 
the  V  bookes  of  Moses,  Josua,  Judicum,  Ruth,  the  bookes 
of  the  Kynges  and  the  books  of  Paralipomenon  [Chronicles] 
Nehemias  or  the  fyrst  of  Esdras,  the  Prophet  Jonas,  and  no 
more  of  the  holy  scripture."  ^ 

Tindale's  New  Testament  was  from  the  Greek.  At 
the  conclusion  of  his  prologue  to  Genesis  he  says,  to 
the  readers  of  it,  that: — 

"it  IS  to  be  corrected  of  them,  yea  and  moreover  to  be  dis- 
allowed and  also  burned,  if  it  seem  worthy  when  they  have 
examined  it  with  the  Hebrew,  so  that  they  first  put  forth 
of  their  own  translating  another  that  is  more  correct." 

Tindale  here  ignores  the  Septuagint  and  Vulgate  and 

all  other  translations  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  can 

mean  only  that  he  translated  from  Hebrew.    Thus,  it 

is  evident  that  Coverdale's  probable  reference  to  Tin- 

^  Ibid.,  p.  195.    Extract  from  HalU*s  ChronicUf  1548. 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  355 

dale  as  one  of  "rype  knowledge"  for  the  work  was  no 
empty  compliment.  More  than  forty  editions  of  Tin- 
dale's  New  Testament  were  printed  between  1525  and 
1566. 

joy's  new  testament 

An  unauthorized  edition  of  the  English  New  Testa- 
ment in  August,  1534,  edited  by  one  George  Joy  led  to 
controversy  between  Joy  and  Tindale.  Joy  held  pecu- 
liar views  in  regard  to  the  resurrection,  for  which,  in 
the  translation,  he  substituted  such  expressions  as 
"very  life"  or  "the  life  after  this  life." 

COVERDALe's    BIBLE,    1 53  5 

The  first  complete  printed  English  Bible  appeared  in 
1535  with  the  title: — 

"  Biblia — ^The  Bible,  that  is,  the  Holy  Scripture  of  the  Olde 
and  New  Testament,  faithfully  and  truly  translated  out  of 
Douche  and  Latyn  in  to  Englishe  mdxxxv." 

This  was  by  Miles  Coverdale,  a  Cambridge  graduate. 
Coverdale  separated  the  Apocrypha,  placing  it  between 
the  Old  Testament  and  the  New,  as  is  done  in  Protes- 
tant Bibles.  His  version  of  the  Apocrypha  was  the 
first  printed  in  English.  It  is  not  known  where  or  by 
whom  Coverdale's  Bible  was  printed,  but  a  comparison 
of  the  type  of  it,  with  two  leaves  of  a  Swiss-German 
Bible,  a  complete  copy  of  which,  1529-30,  was  once  in 
the  possession  of  Dr.  Christian  Ginsburg,  leads  to  the 
opinion  that  Zurich  was  the  place  and  Froschouer  the 
printer.^ 

1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  13.  See  also  the  article 
on  Coverdale  by  H.  R.  Tedder  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography. 


356  A    BOOK  ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Tindale's  New  Testament  was  condemned  In  1526  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  Warham,  and  the  Bishop 
of  London,  Tunstall.  This  condemnation  was  repeated 
in  1530,  at  which  time,  however,  the  King  promised 
that  he  would  have  the  New  Testament  translated  into 
English  "faithfully  and  purely"  by  "learned  men." 
Hugh  Latimer  asked  the  King  to  keep  his  promise. 
Nothing  further  was  done  in  the  matter  by  the  King  or 
the  ecclesiastical  authorities  until  1534.  In  the  mean- 
time, Coverdale  was  completing  his  translation.  Cover- 
dale  was  in  the  favor  of  Sir  Thomas  Cromwell  and  Sir 
Thomas  More,  the  latter  of  whom,  while  he  had  dis- 
approved of  Tindale's  New  Testament,  as  heretical, 
yet  as  early  as  1529  had  expressed  his  belief  that  a 
Bible  in  English  was  desirable  if: — 

"it  might  be  with  dylygence  well  and  truly  translated  by 
som  good  catholyke  and  well  lemed  man,  or  by  dyverse 
dyvydynge  the  laboure  amonge  theym,  and  after  conferryng 
theyr  severall  partys  together  eche  with  other.  And  after 
that  myght  the  work  be  allowed  and  approved  by  the  or- 
dynaryes,  and  by  theyre  authorytees  so  put  unto  prent,  as 
all  the  copyes  shold  come  hole  unto  the  bysshoppys  hande. 
Whyche  he  maye  after  hys  dyscrecyon  and  wysedome  de- 
lyver  to  suche  as  he  perceyveth  honest  sad  and  vertuous, 
with  a  good  monicyon  and  fatherly  counsayl  to  use  yt 
reverently  wyth  humble  hart  and  lowly  mynd,  rather  sekyng 
therin  occasyon  of  devocyon  than  of  dyspycyon"  [i.  e.  dis- 
pute].^ 

The  upper  house  of  Convocation  consisting  of  the 
Bishops,  Abbots  and  Priors  of  the  province  of  Canter- 
bury under  the  Primacy  of  Sir  Thomas  Cromwell  peti- 
tioned the  King  on  December  19th,  1534,  that: — 

» Ibid.,  p.  84.    From  a  dyalogue  of  Syr  Thomas  More,  1529. 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  357 

"  the  king's  majesty  should  think  fit  to  decree  that  the 
holy  scripture  shall  be  translated  into  the  vulgar  English 
tongue  by  certain  upright  and  learned  men  to  be  named  by 
the  said  most  illustrious  king  and  be  meted  out  and  delivered 
to  the  people  for  their  instruction."^ 

This  practically  removed  the  barriers  to  the  circula- 
tion of  the  Bible  in  English,  if  only  the  version  were 
approved  by  the  Bishops.  Accordingly  Coverdale's 
translation  v^as  issued  with  a  revised  title-page  the 
words  "Douche  and  Latyn"  being  omitted,  and  a  dedi- 
cation to  the  King  added.  The  printed  sheets  of  this 
second  issue  were  brought  unbound  to  England  where 
with  new  title-page  and  preliminary  leaves,  printed 
almost  certainly  by  James  Nicholson,  at  Southwark, 
they  were  bound  and  circulated,  some  with  the  date 
1535,  others  with  the  date  1536.  Thus  there  were  two 
issues  of  the  first  edition,  with  the  difference  noted. 
Folio  and  quarto  editions  were  reprinted  in  1537  by 
James  Nicholson  with  the  statement  on  the  title-page 
that  were  'newly  oversene  and  corrected.'  The  quarto 
added  "Set  foorth  with  the  Kynges  moost  gracious  li- 
cense." These  are  the  first  complete  English  Bibles 
printed  in  England.  In  1538  Coverdale  issued  an  edi- 
tion of  the  New  Testament  with  English  and  Latin  in 
parallel  columns.  There  were  in  that  year  three  issues 
of  the  New  Testament  with  English  and  Latin  in 
parallel  columns,  two  printed  by  Nicholson,  and  one 
by  Regnault  of  Paris.  Two  editions  of  Tindale's  Testa- 
ment also  were  printed  in  1538.  It  does  not  appear 
that  the  petition  of  the  Bishops  had  for  its  purpose  the 
authorizing  of  Coverdale's  translation,  yet  that  is  what 
it  virtually  accomplished,  as  Coverdale  was  approved 

^A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  177.  Petitio  synodi 
Cantuariensis  .  .  .  de  transferendis  Bibliis  in  linguam  Anglicanam. 


358  A    BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

by  Cromwell,  who  later  gave  him  the  general  supervi- 
sion of  a  translation,  known  from  the  size  of  its  printed 
form,  as  the  "Great  Bible,"  1539,  which,  by  the  King's 
authority  May  6,  1541,  was  ordered  by  Cromwell,  to 
be  set  up  in  every  church,  where  it  would  be  accessible 
to  the  people  who  were  exhorted  to  read  it. 

The  title  page  of  the  first  issue  of  Coverdale's  Bible 
stated  that  it  was  translated  "out  of  Douche  and 
Latyn."  This  places  it  in  the  same  general  category 
as  the  Wycliffite  versions,  which  were  translation  of 
translation.  In  the  dedication  of  his  Bible,  1535,  to  the 
King,  Coverdale  says: — 

"I  have  nether  wrested  nor  altered  so  moch  as  one  worde 
for  the  mayntenaunce  of  any  manner  of  secte:  but  have  with 
a  cleare  conscience  purely  and  faythfully  translated  this  out 
of  fyve  sundry  interpreters,  havyng  onely  the  manyfest  trueth 
of  the  scripture  before  myne  eyes." 

We  do  not  know  who  the  "fyve  sundry  interpreters" 
were,  but  since  Coverdale  mentions  the  "Douche  and 
Latyn,"  it  may  be  safe  to  assert  that  Luther's  German 
version,  the  Swiss-German  version  of  Zurich,  the 
Vulgate,  the  Latin  version  of  Pagninus,  printed  at 
Lyons  1528,  and  Tindale's  translation  of  the  New 
Testament,  Pentateuch  and  Jonah  were  consulted. 
Tindale's  work  was  used  by  Coverdale  with  some 
changes,  and  these  undoubtedly  had  much  to  do  with 
securing  for  the  version  the  favor  that  had  been 
denied  to  Tindale's,  for  Coverdale  had  no  objection 
to  such  ecclesiastical  terms  as  "  penance,"  "  charitie," 
"confession,"  "grace,"  "priest"  and  "church,"  for 
which  Tindale  had  used  "  repentance,"  "  love,"  "  knowl- 
edge," "  favor,"  "  elder,"  and  "  congregation."  To 
these  terms  of  Tindale,  objection  was   made,   as  we 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  359 

have  seen,  for  they'constituted  a  form  of  attack  on  the 
teachings  of  the  Church. 

The  arrest  of  Tindale  in  1535  and  his  martyrdom  in 
1536  are  undoubtedly  the  reasons  for  our  having  no 
complete  translation  of  the  Bible  by  him.  It  is  almost 
certainly  to  Tindale  that  Coverdale  referred  in  1535: — 

"^  prologe  Myles  Coverdale  Unto  the  Christen  reader  " 
"  Considerynge  how  excellent  knowledge  and  lemynge 
an  interpreter  of  scripture  oughte  to  have  in  the  tongues, 
and  ponderyng  also  myne  owne  insufficiency  therin,  and 
how  weake  I  am  to  perfourme  the  office  of  translatoure,  I 
was  the  more  lothe  to  medle  with  this  worke.  Notwith- 
stondynge  whan  I  consydered  how  greate  pytie  it  was  that 
we  shulde  wante  it  so  longe,  and  called  to  my  remembraunce 
the  adversite  of  them,  which  were  not  onely  of  rype  knowl- 
ege,  but  wolde  also  with  all  theyr  hertes  have  perfourmed 
that  they  beganne,  yf  they  had  not  had  impediment:  con- 
siderynge  (I  saye)  that  by  reason  of  theyr  adversyte  it  coulde 
not  so  soone  have  bene  broughte  to  an  ende,  as  oure  most 
prosperous  nacyon  wolde  fayne  have  had  it:  these  and  other 
reasonable  causes  consydered,  I  was  the  more  bolde  to  take 


In  a  letter  of  Stephen  Vaughan  to  Henry  VIII 
written  in  1531,  and  still  extant  in  the  Record  Office  in 
London,  we  read: — 

"I  ass[ure]  youe,  sayed  he  [Tindale],  if  it  wolde  stande 
withe  the  kinges  most  gracious  pleas[ure]  to  graunte  only 
a  bare  text  of  the  scriptures  to  be  put  forthe  emonge  h[is] 
people,  like  as  is  put  forthe  emonge  the  subgectes  of  the 
emperour  in  th[ese]  parties,  and  of  other  cristen  princes  be 
it  of  the  translation  of  what  perso[n]  soever  shall  please  his 
magestie,  I  shall  ymedyatly  make  faithful[l]  promyse, 
never  to  wryte  more,  ne  abide  ij  dayes  in  these  parties  after 


360  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

th[e]  same,  but  ymedyatly  to  repayre  into  his  realme,  and 
there  most  humbly  submytt  my  selfe  at  the  fete  of  his 
roiall  magestie,  ofFerynge  my  bodye,  to  suffer  what  payne  or 
torture,  ye  what  dethe  his  grac[e]  will,  so  this  be  obteyned."  ^ 

This  offer  of  Tindale  was  rejected.  The  expression 
"bare  text  of  the  scriptures,"  and  the  fact  that  the 
octavo  New  Testament  of  1525  was  printed  without 
notes,  or  chapter  headings,  or  prologue,  are  the  reasons 
for  a  statement  sometimes  seen  in  print  that  Tindale 
did  not  favor  annotated  texts.  His  quarto  New  Testa- 
ment and  his  Pentateuch  contained  many  notes  such 
as  were  customary  in  the  early  Bibles.  These  notes 
were  in  many  cases  controversial,  and  this  was  in 
large  part  the  reason  why  these  Bibles  were  objected 
to  by  those  who  did  not  accept  the  view  of  the  trans- 
lators. 

The  ecclesiatical  opposition  to  Tindale's  New 
Testament,  copies  of  which  were  burned,  because 
considered  heretical,  is,  perhaps,  what  led  Coverdale  to 
attempt  to  make,  as  he  succeeded  in  doing,  a  version 
in  English  that  should  not  be  open  to  the  criticisms 
that  were  directed  at  Tindale's.  He  was  at  work  on 
his  translation  long  before  Tindale's  arrest  for  heresy, 
and,  in  fact,  had  an  edition  of  the  complete  Bible  pub- 
lished in  the  year  1535,  in  which  the  arrest  was  made. 

Coverdale's  Bible  consists  of  Tindale's  version, 
slightly  changed,  of  the  Pentateuch  and  the  New 
Testament,  the  remainder  being  a  translation  by  Cov- 
erdale from  the  Latin  and  German.  Following  the 
Vulgate,  he  omitted  the  Prayer  of  Manasses  from  the 
Apocrypha.  Although  a  translation  of  a  translation, 
in  large  part,  yet  Coverdale's  phrases  still  are  to  be 

^  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  BibUy  p.  170.  From  a  letter  written 
by  Stephen  Vaughan  to  Henry  Vllf,  1531. 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE  I525-I539  361 

found  in  our  English  Bibles,  and  such  beautiful  sen- 
tences as  "Enter  not  into  judgment  with  Thy  servant; 
for  in  Thy  sight  shall  no  man  living  be  justified," 
Psalm  143:2,  and  "Cast  me  not  away  from  thy  pres- 
ence, and  take  not  thy  holy  Spirit  from  me,"  Psalm 
51:11.  Coverdale's  Bible  of  1535  marks  another 
step  in  the  development  of  the  English  Bible,  but  we 
have  not  yet  a  complete  English  Bible  translated 
directly  from  Hebrew  and  Greek. 

Matthew's  or  rogers's  bible,  1537 

In  1537  was  printed,  we  do  not  know  where,  but 
probably  at  Antwerp,  by  Martin  Emperour  (Caesar, 
or  Keysere),  who  printed  Tindale's  revised  New  Testa- 
ment in  1534,  a  new  Bible;  for  Richard  Grafton  the 
printer,  writing  to  Cromwell,  August  28th,  1537,  and 
sending  him  six  Bibles,  does  so  by  his  "servaunt  which 
this  daye  came  out  of  Flaundyrs."  Grafton  and  Whit- 
church, two  English  printers  superintended  the  publi- 
cation of  this  Bible,  edited  by  John  Rogers,  a  friend 
of  Tindale.  Probably  because  Tindale's  translation 
had  been  condemned,  and  he  put  to  death  as  a  heretic, 
it  was  thought  undesirable  to  connect  his  name  with 
a  new  English  Bible,  so  the  title-page  states  that  the 
book  was  "truly  and  purely  translated  into  Englysh 
by  Thomas  Matthew."  An  English  Bible  had  been 
asked  for  by  the  Bishops  in  December,  1534;  Coverdale's 
Bible  of  1535  had  been  dedicated  to  the  King  and 
allowed  to  circulate,  and  had  been  reprinted  in  England, 
in  folio  and  in  quarto,  in  1537,  by  James  Nicholson,  but 
it  could  not  be  regarded  as  the  special  translation 
asked  for  by  the  Bishops  and  promised  by  the  King. 
It  is  thought  that  the  name  Thomas  Matthew  was 


362  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

adopted  to  free  this  version  from  any  connection  with 
the  names  of  Tindale  and  Coverdale,  of  whose  work  it 
really  consisted  almost  wholly,  so  that  it  might  be 
offered  as  a  new  version,  for  which  the  formal  sanction 
of  the  King  and  the  Bishops  might  be  obtained.  Cran- 
mer  wrote  to  Cromwell,  Aug.  4,  1537,  asking  him  to 
get  from  the  King: — 

"a  license  that  the  same  may  be  sold  and  redde  of  every 
person,  withoute  danger  of  any  acte,  proclamacion,  or  or- 
dinaunce  hertofore  graunted  to  the  contrary,  untill  such 
tyme  that  we,  the  Bishops  shall  set  forth  a  better  translacion, 
which  I  thinke  will  not  be  till  a  day  after  domesday."  ^ 

Cromv/ell  obtained  from  the  King  permission  that 
the  Matthew  Bible  "shalbe  alowed  by  his  auctoritie 
to  be  bowght  and  redde  within  this  realme"  as  stated 
in  a  letter  from  Cranmer  to  Cromwell  Aug.  13,  1537, 
thanking  him  for  what  he  had  done.  Cranmer  had 
described  the  book  as: — 

"a  Bible  in  Englishe,  both  of  a  new  translacion  and  of  a  new 
prynte,  dedicated  unto  the  Kinges  Majestic,  as  farther 
apperith  by  a  pistle  unto  his  grace  in  the  begynning  of  the 
boke,  which,  in  myn  opinion  is  very  well  done,  and  therefore 
I  pray  your  Lordeship  to  rede  the  same.  And  as  for  the 
translacion,  so  farre  as  I  have  redde  therof,  I  like  it  better 
than  any  other  translacion  hertofore  made.*'  ^ 

The  title-page  of  the  Matthew  Bible  bears  the  words 
"Set  forth  with  the  Kinge's  most  gracyous  lycense." 
One  reason  for  the  favor  shown  to  Matthew's  Bible 
was  the  fact  that  Rogers,  the  editor,  had  paid  more 

^  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  215.    A  letter  from  Cran- 
mer to  Cromwell,  Aug.  4,  1537. 
'  Ibid.,  p.  214. 


THE    PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    I525-I539  363 

attention  to  the  Vulgate  than  had  Tindale  or  Cover- 
dale,  and  had  also  modified  the  notes  so  that  they  were 
not  likely  to  be  so  offensive  to  the  ecclesiastical  author- 
ities. It  must  be  remembered,  in  connection  with  the 
Coverdale  and  Matthew  Bibles,  that  Henry  VIII  was 
in  1 53 1  declared  supreme  head  of  the  Church  of  Eng- 
land, and  in  1533  had  defied  the  Pope,  married  Ann 
Boleyn,  and  denied  the  authority  of  the  Pope  in  Eng- 
land. 

The  Matthew  Bible  comprised,  with  modifications, 
the  translations  of  Tindale  and  Coverdale.  The 
Pentateuch  and  New  Testament  are  Tindale,  with  only 
slight  changes.  Ezra  to  Malachi,  and  the  Apocrypha, 
are  Coverdale.  Joshua  to  the  end  of  II  Chronicles  is 
probably  a  version  left  by  Tindale  at  his  death,  and 
now  printed  for  the  first  time  by  his  disciple  Rogers. 
The  translation  is  a  new  one  and  we  have  as  authority 
for  its  being  by  Tindale,  the  facts  that  Rogers  was  a 
disciple  of  Tindale's,  that  the  Matthew  Bible  was 
almost  certainly  printed  at  Antwerp,  and  the  statement 
from  Halle's  Chronicle  quoted  above.  ^  Rogers  used 
Coverdale's  translation  of  Nehemiah  and  Jonah,  and 
to  the  Apocrypha  added  the  Prayer  of  Manasses,  not 
given  by  the  Vulgate  or  by  Coverdale,  but  translated 
from  the  French  Bible,  1535,  of  Olivetan,  as  was  also 
the  preface  to  the  Apocrypha.  We  do  not  know  why 
Rogers  did  not  use  Tindale's  translation  of  the  Epistles 
from  the  Old  Testament,  which  had  been  printed  in 
1534,  or  of  Jonah  and  Nehemiah. 

The  Matthew  Bible  has  many  notes,  some  of  them 
from  Olivetan.  It  contains  also  preliminary  matter, 
a  "Kalendar";  "An  Exhortation  to  the  Study  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  gathered  out  of  the  Bible";  "The 

1  Page  354. 


364  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

sum  and  content  of  all  the  Holy  Scripture";  and  "A 
Table  of  Principal  Matters  contained  in  the  Bible"; 
the  last  from  Olivetan.  At  the  head  of  each  chapter 
is  a  summary.  The  Matthew  Bible  has  more  of  the 
text  translated  directly  from  the  original,  as  we  may 
safely  assume  all  of  Tindale's  work  was,  than  any 
previous  version.  The  editing,  for  so  we  must  call  it, 
rather  than  translating,  done  by  Rogers  was  important, 
an  instance  of  this  being  his  omission  from  Psalm  14 
of  the  three  verses,  not  in  the  Hebrew,  found  in  the 
Vulgate  and  retained  by  Coverdale. 


taverner's  bible,  1539 

In  1539  appeared  a  folio  edition  of  the  Bible  with 
the  title: — 

"The  most  Sacred  Bible  which  is  the  Holy  Scripture,  con- 
taining the  Old  and  New  Testament,  translated  into  English, 
and  newly  recognized  with  great  diligence  after  most  faithful 
exemplars  by  Richard  Tavemer." 

This  version  was  really  a  printers'  or  publishers' 
edition.  Unlike  his  predecessors  Taverner  was  a 
barrister,  though  he  later  became  a  clergyman.  His 
knowledge  of  Greek  led  him  to  make  some  changes  in 
the  translation  of  the  New  Testament,  a  few  of  which 
have  become  permanent,  such  as  "the  love  of  many 
shall  wax  cold,"  Matthew  24:12,  where  Tindale  and 
Coverdale  wrote  "the  love  of  many  shall  abate"  and 
Wycliffe  "the  charite  of  many  schal  wexe  cold."  Tav- 
erner used  "parable"  where  Wycliffe,  Tindale  and 
Coverdale  had  used  "similitude."  He  endeavored  to 
substitute  an  English  word  for  a  foreign  word  when- 
ever possible  in  the  translation.    He  was  probably  not 


THE   PRINTED    ENGLISH    BIBLE    IS25-I539  365 

a  Hebrew  scholar,  and  his  revision  of  Matthew's  Bible, 
for  such  it  must  be  considered,  was  without  much 
influence  on  subsequent  versions.  It  was  reprinted 
in  quarto  in  1539,  in  i2mo  in  1540,  and  the  Old  Testa- 
ment in  folio  in  1551. 


CHAPTER  XVIII 

THE  ENGLISH  VERSIONS  1539-1582 

In  1534  the  Bishops  had  asked  for  a  translation  of 
the  Bible  by  persons  to  be  named  by  the  King,  and  in 
1537  Cranmer  had  expressed  the  opinion  that  such  a 
translation  would  not  be  made  until  "a  day  after 
domesday."  In  the  year  1537,  Matthew's  Bible  was, 
through  the  influence  of  Cranmer  and  Cromwell, 
officially  sanctioned  by  the  King, 


THE    GREAT    BIBLE,    CROMWELl's    BIBLE,  CRANMER's 
BIBLE,    1539 

Still  another  version  was  soon  projected  which, 
unlike  Matthew's  Bible,  should  not  contain  notes  ^nd 
comments  offensive  to  the  Church  authorities  because 
too  polemically  Protestant  in  tone.  In  this  case  the 
naming  of  the  translator  or  "corrector"  was  done  by 
Cromwell's  influence,  and  Coverdale  was  selected, 
Richard  Grafton  and  Edward  Whitchurch  being 
charged  with  the  supervision  of  the  printing,  which 
was  to  be  done: — 

"within  the  universitie  of  Paris,  because  paper  was  there 
more  meete  and  apt  to  be  had  for  the  doing  thereof,  then  in 
the  realme  of  England,  and  also  that  there  were  more  store 
of  good  workmen  for  the  readie  dispatch  of  the  same."  ^ 

^  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  223.  Extract  from  Fox's 
^ctes  and  MonumenteSy  fourth  edition,  1583,  p.  H91. 

366 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I539-I582  367 

Cromwell  had  obtained  from  the  King,  early  in  1538, 
the  authorization  of  the  printing  of  this  book,  and  the 
King  had  written  to  Bishop  Bonner,  then  Ambassador 
at  Paris,  to  assist,  and  had  obtained  from  the  French 
Kjng,  Francis  I,  license  for  Grafton  and  Whitchurch  to 
proceed  with  the  work.  Before  it  was  completed,  two 
events  occurred  which  threatened  serious  consequences; 
first,  the  conservative  churchmen  had  prevailed  upon 
the  King  to  issue  a  decree,  November,  1538,  prohibiting 
the  importing  into  England  of  any  English  books 
printed  abroad,  special  mention  being  made  of  editions 
of  the  Bible;  second,  the  relations  of  France  and  Eng- 
land becoming  strained,  the  printing  house  was  seized 
in  December,  1538,  and  with  it  the  printed  sheets  of  the 
Bible.  Grafton  had  deposited  with  the  English  Am- 
bassador some  copies  of  the  sheets,  and  saved  some 
others  from  those  which  were  to  be  burnt  by  the  French 
authorities.  Cromwell  was  able  to  arrange  to  have 
Coverdale  and  Grafton  go  to  Paris  where  they: — 

"got  the  presses,  letters  and  servaunts  of  the  aforesaid 
Printer,  and  brought  them  to  London,  and  there  they  became 
printers  themselves  (which  before  they  never  entended)  and 
printed  out  the  said  Bible  in  London,  and  after  that  printed 
sundry  impressions  of  them."i 

Although  this  book  bears  the  date  1539,  it  is  doubt- 
ful whether  many,  if  any,  copies  were  actually  issued 
so  early.  Copies  which  bear  the  date  1539  are  called 
Cromwell's  Bible,  but  copies  of  1540,  and  later,  contain 
**a  prologe  thereinto,  made  by  the  reverende  father  in 
God,  Thomas  archbysshop  of  Cantorbury"  and  are 
known  as  Cranmer's.     From  its  size,  the  printed  page 

1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  227.  Extract  from  Fox's 
^ctes  and  Monuments. 


368  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

being  13K  x  'jyi  inches,  this  version  is  known  as  the 
"Great  Bible."    The  title-page  of  1539  reads: — 

"The  Byble  in  Englyshe,  that  is  to  saye  the  content  of  all 
the  holy  scrypture,  bothe  of  ye  olde  and  newe  testament, 
truly  translated  after  the  veryte  of  the  Hebrue  and  Greke 
textes,  by  ye  dylygent  studye  of  dy verse  excellent  learned 
men,  expert  in  the  forsayde  tonges. 

Prynted  by  Rychard  Grafton  and  Edward  Whitchurch. 
Cum  privilegio  ad  imprimendum  solum,  1539." 

Coverdale  had  before  him  the  Matthew  Bible,  which 
became  the  basis  of  the  Great  Bible.  A  revision  of  the 
Latin  Old  Testament,  with  Hebrew  text  and  commen- 
taries by  Sebastian  Miinster,  printed  in  1534-5,  the 
Complutensian  Polyglot,  and  the  Latin  version  of  the 
New  Testament  by  Erasmus,  were  all  used  by  Cover- 
dale  in  this  revision.  Ezra  to  Malachi,  and  the  Apoc- 
rypha, in  Matthew's  Bible,  was  the  work  of  Cover- 
dale.  In  this  portion  we  find  in  the  Great  Bible  a 
large  number  of  changes.  To  the  influence  of  Miinster 
are  due  the  changes  made  in  Tindale's  work.  Genesis 
to  II  Chronicles,  and  to  the  Latin  of  Erasmus,  and  to 
the  Vulgate,  changes  made  in  Tindale's  translation 
of  the  New  Testament.  The  Latin  origin  of  changes 
is  indicated  by  smaller  type,  as  is  the  verse  I  John  5 17. 

The  following  versions  of  Psalm  23  indicate  the  kind 
of  changes  made  in  the  translation: — 

"The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd,  I  can  want  nothing.  He 
feedeth  me  in  a  green  pasture,  and  leadeth  me  to  a  fresh 
water.  He  quickeneth  my  soul,  and  bringeth  me  forth  in 
the  ways  of  righteousness  for  His  name's  sake.  Though  I 
should  walk  now  in  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death,  yet 
I  fear  no  evil,  Thy  staff  and  Thy  sheephook  comfort  me. 
Thou  preparest  a  table  before  me  against  mine  enemies: 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I539-I582  369 

Thou  anointest  mine  head  with  oil,  and  fillest  my  cup  full. 
Oh,  let  Thy  loving-kindness  and  mercy  follow  me  all  the  days 
of  my  Hfe,  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  ever." 
Co verd ale's  Bible,  1535. 

**The  Lord  is  my  Shepherd;  therefore  can  I  lack  nothing. 
He  shall  feed  me  in  a  green  pasture,  and  lead  me  forth  beside 
the  waters  of  comfort.  He  shall  convert  my  soul,  and  bring 
me  forth  in  the  paths  of  righteousness  for  His  name's  sake. 
Yea,  though  I  walk  through  the  valley  of  the  shadow  of  death 
I  will  fear  no  evil,  for  Thou  are  with  me;  Thy  rod  and  Thy 
staff  comfort  me.  Thou  shalt  prepare  a  table  before  me 
against  them  that  trouble  me:  Thou  has  anointed  my  head 
with  oil,  and  my  cup  shall  be  full.  But  Thy  loving-kindness 
and  mercy  shall  follow  me  all  the  days  of  my  life,  and  I 
will  dwell  in  the  house  of  the  Lord  for  ever."  The  Great 
Bible,  1539.1 

An  edition  printed  in  April,  1540,  contains  further 
changes  which  were  increased  in  another  edition  in 
November,  1540.  It  may  be  remarked  here  that  books 
were  often  revised  while  being  struck  off,  and,  as  sheets 
were  printed  by  hand,  one  at  a  time,  it  is  not  uncom- 
mon to  find,  in  16th-century  books  copies  of  the  same 
edition  of  a  work  that  have  different  readings  in  the 
same  passage,  because  the  author,  or  the  printer,  made 
a  change,  or  changes,  after  some  sheets  had  been 
printed.  Between  1540  and  1557  reprints  of  Tindale's 
New  Testament,  Coverdale's,  Matthew's,  Taverner's 
and  the  Great  Bible  were  numerous,  but  no  new  ver- 
sion appeared. 

THE    GENEVA    BIBLE,    I557-I560 

The  religious  dissensions,  and  the  various  enact- 
ments by  the  party  that  happened  to  be  in  the  as- 

1  The  spelling  is  here  modernized  in  both  versions  of  the  Psalm. 


370  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

cendant  at  a  given  time,  made  life  very  uncomfortable 
and  even  dangerous  for  those  whose  views  differed  from 
the  prevailing  ones.  Cruel  persecutions  and  martyr- 
doms were  among  the  results.  Important,  in  the 
history  of  the  English  Bible,  were  the  colonies  of 
religious  refugees  who  lived  at  Antwerp,  Rheims, 
Douay,  Rouen,  Amsterdam  and  Geneva,  from  which 
came  many  English  books.  From  Geneva,  where 
Calvin  was  the  leader,  came  in  1557  an  English  New 
Testament,  printed  by  Conrad  Badius,  translated  by 
William  Whittingham  of  Christ  Church,  Oxford,  which 
contained  for  the  first  time,  in  English,  the  verse 
divisions,  which  have  interfered  so  greatly  with  the 
proper  reading  of  the  Bible.  The  division  of  verses 
in  the  New  Testament  was  made  first  in  the  Greek 
Testament  of  Stephanus,  (or  Etienne)  fourth  edition, 
1 55 1,  and  it  is  this  that  is  the  basis  of  the  Whitting- 
ham New  Testament.  Verse  divisions  in  the  Old 
Testament  existed  in  Hebrew,  and  were  made  probably 
by  the  Massorites.  They  were  made  in  the  Latin 
version  of  Pagninus,  1528.  They  appeared  in  English 
first  in  the  Geneva  version,  1560.  The  division  of  the 
Bible  into  chapters  was  the  work  of  Stephen  Langton, 
1228,  or  as  some  assert  of  Hugues  de  St.  Cher,  1262,  in 
the  Latin. 

In  Whittingham's  Testament,  we  have  chapter- 
summaries,  notes,  and  marks  calling  attention  to 
differences  in  Greek  manuscripts,  and  the  use  of  italics 
to  indicate  words  not  in  the  original.  This  last  feature 
was  taken  from  Beza's  French  New  Testament,  1556. 

In  1560  appeared  from  the  press  in  Geneva  a  vol- 
ume, quarto  size,  with  this  title: — 

"  The  Bible  and  Holy  Scriptures  Conteyned  in  the  Olde  and 
Newe  Testament.     Translated  according  to  the  Ebrue  and 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I539-I582  37I 

Greke  and  conferred  with  the  best  translations  in  divers 
langages.  With  moste  profitable  Annotations  upon  all  the 
hard  places,  and  other  things  of  great  importance  as  may 
appeare  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Reader.  At  Geneva.  Printed 
by  Rouland  Hall,  mdlx." 

The  book  contains  an  address  to  the  Queen  and  to 
the  Brethren  of  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  etc.  The 
Geneva  Version  of  1560  is  probably  chiefly  the  work 
of  Whittingham,  whose  version  of  the  New  Testament, 
considerably  revised,  appears,  with  a  careful  version 
of  the  Old  Testament  based  on  the  Great  Bible.  Asso- 
ciated with  Whittingham  in  the  preparation  of  the 
Geneva  Version  were  Anthony  Gilbey,  a  Cambridge 
man,  and  Thomas  Sampson,  who,  like  Whittingham, 
was  an  Oxford  man.  Coverdale  was  one  of  the  Eng- 
lishmen who  had  gone  to  Geneva  to  be  with  the  re- 
formers under  Calvin.  Other  prominent  reformers  in 
the  colony  were  John  Knox,  John  PuUain,  Thomas 
Cole  and  Christopher  Goodwin,  at  one  time  Professor 
of  Divinity  at  Oxford. 

The  Geneva  Bible  contains  numerous  annotations, 
and  the  Apocrypha  is  printed  separately,  the  books  of 
the  Bible  being  arranged  as  in  the  King  James  Version. 
The  Prayer  of  Manasses  is  placed,  not  in  the  Apocry- 
pha, but  between  II  Chronicles  and  Ezra,  with  a  note, 
"This  prayer  is  not  in  the  Hebrew,  but  is  translated 
out  of  the  Greeke."  This  prayer  was  omitted  by 
Coverdale,  because  not  in  the  Vulgate,  but  added  in 
Matthew's  Bible.  This  version,  like  the  Whittingham 
Testament,  1557,  was  printed  in  Roman  type,  all  other 
English  versions  having  been  in  black  letter. 

Just  how  much  difference  the  French  environment 
made  to  the  Geneva  translators  we  cannot  tell.  We 
know  that  Whittingham  used  the  French  Testament 


372  A   BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  Beza,  1556,  and  the  French  Bible  of  Olivetan,  1535. 
The  newer  Latin  version  of  Pagninus,  1528,  and  the 
Bible  of  Leo  Juda,  1543-45,  were  likewise  probably- 
used.  The  Geneva  Bible  was  the  most  scholarly  and 
critical  yet  produced.  It  is  nicknamed  the  "Breeches 
Bible"  because  in  Genesis  3:7  it  follows  the  Wycliffite 
and  reads  "breeches"  where  other  versions  read 
"aprons."  In  1576  the  French  Testament  of  Beza  was 
translated  into  English  by  Laurence  Tomson,  an 
Oxford  man,  who  used  the  Geneva  Version  as  the  basis 
for  his  English.  Among  the  Puritans,  as  the  reformed 
party  were  called  in  England,  the  Geneva  Version  was 
the  household  book.  It  was  the  first  version  printed 
in  Scotland,  where  an  edition  was  issued  in  1579. 

THE    bishops'    BIBLE,    1 568 

The  Geneva  Bible,  as  the  popular  version,  the  Great 
Bible,  as  the  official  Bible  of  the  Church  of  England, 
and  various  editions  of  the  other  versions  circulating 
in  considerable  numbers — this  represents  the  condition 
of  England,  as  concerns  the  English  Bible,  during  the 
period  between  the  appearance  of  the  Geneva  Version 
in  1560  and  that  of  a  new  official  version  in  1568,  the 
latter  being  the  long-looked-for  Bishops'  Bible.  Parker, 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  was  the  leader  in  the 
making  of  the  new  version.  The  Geneva  Version  was 
generally  recognized  as  far  superior  to  any  that -had 
preceded  it,  and  Parker  himself  would  have  been 
wiUing  perhaps  to  accept  it,  had  it  not  contained  "in- 
spersed  preiudicall  notis  which  might  have  ben  also 
well  spared."  *    There  is  in  the  Record  Office  in  Lon- 

*  A.  W,  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  BibU,  p.  295,  Archbishop  Parker 
to  Queen  Elizabeth. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I539-I582  373 

don,  Parker's  list  of  Bishops  and  others  to  whom  he 
assigned  for  translation  different  sections  of  the  Bible. 
The  initials  of  these  men  were  to  be  placed  at  the  end 
of  their  respective  sections,  but  some  changes  were 
evidently  made,  as  the  initials  do  not  always  accord 
with  the  list  as  given.    Of  great  interest  are  the: — 

^^Observacions  respected  of  the  Translators  " 

"  Firste  to  followe  the  Commune  Englishe  Translacion  used 
in  the  Churches  and  not  to  recced  from  yt  but  wher  yt 
varieth  manifestlye  from  the  Hebrue  or  Greke  originall/' 

"  Item  to  use  such  sections  and  devisions  in  the  Textes  as 
Pagnine  in  his  Translacion  useth,  and  for  the  veritie  of  the 
Hebrue  to  followe  the  said  Pagnine  and  Munster  specially, 
And  generally  others  learned  in  the  tonges." 

"  Item  to  make  no  bitter  notis  uppon  any  text,  or  yet  to 
set  downe  any  determinacion  in  places  of  controversie." 

"  Item  to  note  such  Chapters  and  places  as  conteineth 
matter  of  Genealogies  or  other  such  places  not  edefieng, 
with  some  strike  or  note  that  the  Reader  may  eschue  them  in 
his  publike  readinge." 

"  Item  that  all  such  wordes  as  soundeth  in  the  Old  Trans- 
lacion to  any  offence  of  Lightnes  or  obscenitie  be  expressed 
with  more  convenient  termes  and  phrases." 

"  The  printer  hath  bestowed  his  thickest  Paper  in  the  newe 
Testament  because  yt  shalbe  most  occupied.^ " 

In  general,  the  Bishops'  Bible  is  simply  a  revision  of 
the  Great  Bible.  Different  parts  were  treated  by  differ- 
ent men,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  there  was  any  con- 
ference between  the  various  revisers  in  regard  to  their 
work,  so  that  there  is  no  consistency  in  the  changes 
made.  In  a  quarto  edition  of  the  Bishops'  Bible  in 
1569,  many  of  the  misprints  and  errors  of  the  1568 
1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Rgcords  of  the  English  BibU,  p.  297. 


374  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

edition  were  corrected,  but  in  the  1572  folio,  while  the 
New  Testament  had  been  further  revised,  the  correc- 
tions of  1569  in  the  Old  Testament  were  not  made. 
The  most  notable  feature  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  so 
far  as  the  people  were  concerned,  was  the  new  version 
of  Psalms,  made  not  by  Guest,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  to 
whom  Parker  at  first  assigned  them,  but,  as  we  know, 
from  the  initials  at  the  end,  by  one  T.  B.,  who  is 
with  reason  thought  to  have  been  Thomas  Bickley, 
afterwards  Bishop  of  Chichester.^  So  strongly  at- 
tached were  the  people  to  the  version  of  Psalms 
given  in  the  Great  Bible,  which  was  Coverdale's 
version  of  1535  with  modifications,  that  a  new 
version  has  never  yet  found  its  place  in  the  Prayer 
Book.  In  the  second  folio  edition  of  the  Bishops'  Bible 
in  1572,  the  older  version  of  Psalms  was  printed  in 
black-letter,  in  columns  parallel  to  the  new  version, 
in  Roman.  The  liking  of  the  people  for  the  old  Psalter 
was  due  to  the  fact  that,  as  the  first  Prayer  Book  in 
English  was  printed  in  1549,  the  Great  Bible,  then  the 
authorized  version  of  the  Church,  was  used  for  all 
scripture  passages.  The  Psalter  was  arranged  to  be  read 
through  every  month,  and  the  people  therefore  became 
familiar  with  it  from  the  reading.  In  the  Great  Bible 
additions  from  the  Latin  version  had  been  printed 
in  different  type  and  thus  indicated  to  the  reader. 
This  has  never  been  done  in  the  Prayer  Book,  which 
contains,  in  the  Psalter,  passages  not  in  the  Hebrew 
Text.  A  striking  instance  of  this  will  be  found  by  com- 
paring Psalm  14,  as  given  in  the  Psalter,^  with  the  same 
Psalm  as  given  in  the  Geneva  version: — 

1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  BibU,  p.p. 

'  The  version  of  the  Psalter  in  the  Prayer  Book  is  evidently  that  of  the 
1540  revision  of  the  Great  Bible,  but  is  not  exact.    It  differs  in  many  places 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I539-I582  375 

Psalm  14.     Psalter — Great  Bible 

1.  "  The  fool  hath  said  in  his  heart:  There  is  no  God." 

2.  "  They  are  corrupt,  and  become  abominable  in  their 
doings:  there  is  none  that  doeth  good,  no  not  one." 

3.  "  The  Lord  looked  down  from  heaven  upon  the  children 
of  men:  to  see  if  there  were  any  that  would  understand,  and 
seek  after  God." 

4.  "  But  they  are  all  gone  out  of  the  way,  they  are  alto- 
gether become  abominable:  there  is  none  that  doeth  good, 
no  not  one." 

5.  "Their  throat  is  an  open  sepulchre,  with  their  tongues 
have  they  deceived :  the  poison  of  asps  is  under  their  lips." 

6.  "Their  mouth  is  full  of  cursing  and  bitterness:  their 
feet  are  swift  to  shed  blood." 

7.  "  Destruction  and  unhappiness  is  in  their  ways,  and  the 
way  of  peace  have  they  not  known:  there  is  no  fear  of  God 
before  their  eyes." 

8.  "  Have  they  no  knowledge,  that  they  are  all  such  work- 
ers of  mischief:  eating  up  my  people  as  it  were  bread,  and 
call  not  upon  the  Lord  ? " 

9.  "There  were  they  brought  in  great  fear,  even  where 
no  fear  was:  for  God  is  in  the  generation  of  the  righteous." 

10.  "  As  for  you,  ye  have  made  a  mock  at  the  counsel 
of  the  poor:  because  he  putteth  his  trust  in  the  Lord." 

11.  "Who  shall  give  salvation  unto  Israel  out  of  Sion? 
When  the  Lord  tumeth  the  captivity  of  his  people:  then 
shall  Jacob  rejoice,  and  Israel  shall  be  glad.^ " 

Psalm  14.     Geneva  Bible,  1^60 

1.  "The  foole  hath  said  in  his  heart.  There  is  no  God: 
they  have  corrupted,  and  done  an  abominable  worke:  there 
is  none  that  doeth  good." 

2.  "  The  Lord  looked  downe  from  heaven  upon  the  children 

from  the  version  of  1539.     Examples  are  given  by  S.  R.  Driver,  The  Paralell 
Psalter,  Oxford,  1898,  p.  xv. 

^  The  speUing  is  here  modernized. 


376  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

of  men,  to  see  if  there  were  any  that  would  understand  and 
seeke  God/* 

3.  "All  are  gone  out  of  the  way:  they  are  all  corrupt: 
there  is  none  that  doth  good,  no  not  one." 

4.  "  Doe  not  all  the  workers  of  iniquity  knowe  that  they 
eate  up  my  people,  as  they  eat  bread  ?  they  call  not  upon  the 
Lord." 

5.  "There  they  shall  be  taken  with  feare  because  God  is 
in  the  generation  of  the  just." 

6.  "  You  have  made  a  mocke  at  the  counsell  of  the  poore, 
because  the  Lord  is  his  trust." 

7.  "Oh  give  salvation  unto  Israel  out  of  Zion:  when  the 
Lord  tumeth  the  captivitie  of  his  people,  then  Jaakob  shall 
rejoyce,  and  Israel  shalbe  glad." 

"  Note  that  of  this  Psalme  the  5.  6.  and  7.  verses  which  are 
put  into  the  common  translation,  and  may  seem  unto  some 
to  bee  left  in  this,  are  not  in  the  same  Psalme  in  the  Hebrew 
text,  but  are  rather  put  in,  more  fully  to  expresse  the  maners 
of  the  wicked:  and  are  gathered  out  of  the  5.  140.  and  10. 
Psalmes,  the  59.  of  the  Prophet  Isaiah,  and  the  36.  Psalme, 
and  are  alleaged  by  S.  Paul,  and  placed  together  in  the  3. 
to  the  Romanes." 

The  Bishops'  Bible  contained  notes  dealing  chiefly 
with  the  interpretation  of  the  text.  They  are  briefer 
and  not  so  numerous  as  those  of  the  Geneva  Bible. 
** Bitter  notes"  were  avoided  in  accordance  with  the 
instructions  given  by  Parker.  On  Psalm  45:9  is  the 
following: — 

"Ophir  is  thought  to  be  the  island  in  the  west  coast  of 
late  found  by  Christopher  Colombo:  from  whence  at  this 
day  is  brought  most  fine  gold." 

The  Bishops'  Bible,  like  Coverdale's,  1535,  has  the 
nickname,  the  "Treacle  Bible"  from  the  translation, 
"Is  there  not  treacle  at  Giliad,"  Jeremiah  8:22. 


CHAPTER  XIX 

THE  ENGLISH  VERSIONS  1582-1611 

From  Tindale  on,  the  English  versions  had  come 
from  the  Reformers  or  Protestants.  Wycliffe  has  been 
called  the  morning  star  of  the  Reformation. 

THE  RHEIMS-DOUAY  BIBLE,    I582-1609 

In  1582  appeared  at  Rheims,  where  one  of  the  Eng- 
lish Roman  Catholic  colonies  of  refugees  was  located,  a 
translation  of  the  New  Testament  with  the  following 
title: — 

"The  New  Testament  of  Jesus  Christ  Translated 
Faithfully  into  English,  out  of  the  Authentical  Latin, 
according  to  the  best  corrected  copies  of  the  same;  diligently 
conferred  with  the  Greeke  and  other  Editions  in  divers 
languages;  with  Arguments  of  Bookes  and  Chapters,  Annota- 
tions, and  other  necessarie  helpes  for  the  better  understanding 
of  the  text,  and  specially  for  the  discoverie  of  the  Corrup- 
tions of  divers  late  translations,  and  for  cleering  the  Con- 
troversies in  Religion  of  these  daies;  In  the  English  College  of 
Rhemes.  Printed  at  Rhemes  by  John  Fogney  1582  cum 
privilegio." 

The  leader  in  the  preparation  of  this  version  of  the 
New  Testament  was  Cardinal  Allen,  who  in  writing  to 
Dr.  Vendeville  Sept.  16,  1578,  called  attention  to  the 
disadvantage  under  which  Roman  Catholic  Clergy 
labor  when  they  are : — 

377 


378  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"preaching  to  the  unlearned  and  are  obliged  on  the  spur 
of  the  moment  to  translate  some  passage  which  they  have 
quoted  into  the  vulgar  tongue.  They  often  do  it  inaccurately 
and  with  unpleasant  hesitation,  because  either  there  is  no 
English  version  of  the  words  or  it  does  not  then  and  there 
occur  to  them.  Our  adversaries  on  the  other  hand  have 
at  their  fingers'  ends  all  those  passages  of  scripture  which 
seem  to  make  for  them,  and  by  a  certain  deceptive  adapta- 
tion and  alteration  of  the  sacred  words,  produce  the  effect 
of  appearing  to  say  nothing  but  what  comes  from  the  Bible. 
This  evil  might  be  remedied  if  we  too  had  some  Catholic 
version  of  the  Bible,  for  all  the  English  versions  are  most 
corrupt."  ^ 

How  strong  the  Roman  Catholic  feeling  was  against 
the  English  versions  of  the  Bible  is  indicated  also  in  a 
book  written  by  Gregory  Martin  which  bore  the  fol- 
lowing title : — 

"  A  DiscovERiE  of  the  Manifold  Corruptions  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  by  the  Heretickes  of  our  daies,  specially  the 
English  Sectaries,  and  of  their  foule  dealing  herein,  by  partial 
and  false  translations  to  the  advantage  of  their  heresies  in 
their  English  Bibles,  printed  at  Rhemes  by  John  Fogny,  1582.'* 

To  this  there  was  an  immediate  reply  in  a  book  by 
William  Fulke:— 

"  A  Defense  of  the  sincere  and  true  Translation  of  the  Holie 
Scriptures  into  the  English  tong,  against  the  manifolde  cauils 
and  impudent  slaunders  of  Gregorie  Martin,  at  LondoUy 
Imprinted  hy  Henrie  Bynnemany  for  George  Bishop,  1583." 

The  Rheims  New  Testament  was  the  actual  work  of 
Gregory  Martin,  one  of  the  original   scholars  of  St. 

*  T.  F.  Knox,  First  and  Second  Diaries  of  the  English  College  at  Douay, 
London,  1878,  p.  xl. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I582-161I  379 

John's  College,  Oxford,  and  at  this  time,  1578,  lecturer 
in  Hebrew  and  Holy  Scripture  at  the  Douay-Rheims 
College.  His  work  took  three  years  and  a  half  to 
complete,  as  we  learn  from  the  Douay  Diary  and 
was  revised  by  Cardinal  Allen,  and  Richard  Bristow, 
Moderator  of  the  College.     Prefixed  to  the  text  is: — 

"The  Preface  to  the  Reader  treating  of  these  three  points: 
of  the  translation  of  Holy  Scriptures  into  the  vulgar  tongues, 
and  namely  into  English;  of  the  causes  why  this  New  Tes- 
tament is  translated  according  to  the  auncient  vulgar  Latin 
text:  and  of  the  maner  of  translating  the  same." 

Much  of  what  is  said  in  this  Preface  is  controversial 
and  we  are  not  concerned  with  it,  but  there  are  several 
important  statements  made  which  bear  on  the  history 
of  the  Bible  in  English.  One  is  that  the  whole  Bible 
had  been  translated  into  English  by  the  Roman  Catho- 
lic College,  when  in  1582  the  New  Testament  was 
printed.  The  Old  Testament  was  not  printed  until 
1609.  Another,  and  most  important  in  the  present  con- 
nection, is  that  these  translators  looked  at  their  task 
from  a  point  of  view  quite  different  from  that  of  the 
Protestant  translators.  Tindale's  remark  that  he  would 
"cause  a  boy  that  driveth  the  plough"  to  know  the 
Bible,  represents  one  view.  The  other  view  is  given 
in  the  following  passage  from  the  Preface  to  the  Rheims 
Testament : — 

"The  holy  Bible  long  since  translated  by  us  into  English, 
and  the  old  Testament  lying  by  us  for  lacke  of  good  meanes 
to  publish  the  whole  in  such  sort  as  a  worke  of  so  great 
charge  and  importance  requireth:  we  have  yet  through 
Gods  goodnes  at  length  fully  finished  for  thee  (most  Christian 
reader)  all  the  New  Testament,  which  is  the  principal,  most 
profitable    and    comfortable    peece    of   holy    writte":  .  .  . 


38o  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Which  translation  we  doe  not  for  all  that  publish,  upon 
erroneous  opinion  of  necessitie,  that  the  holy  Scriptures 
should  alwaies  be  in  our  mother  tonge,  or  that  they  ought, 
or  were  ordained  by  God,  to  be  read  indifferently  of  all, 
or  could  be  easily  understood  of  every  one  that  readeth  or 
heareth  them  in  a  knowen  language:  or  that  they  were  not 
often  through  mans  maHce  or  infirmitie,  pernicious  and  much 
hurtful  to  many:  or  that  we  generally  and  absolutely  deemed 
it  more  convenient  in  it  self,  and  more  agreable  to  Gods  word 
and  honour  or  edification  of  the  faithful,  to  have  them  turned 
into  vulgar  tonges,  then  to  be  kept  and  studied  only  in  the 
Ecclesiastical  learned  languages:  Not  for  these  nor  any  such 
like  causes  doe  we  translate  this  sacred  booke,  but  upon 
special  consideration  of  the  present  time,  state,  and  condition 
of  our  countrie,  unto  which  divers  thinges  are  either  neces- 
sarie,  or  profitable  and  medicinable  now,  that  otherwise  in 
the  peace  of  the  Church  were  neither  much  requisite,  nor 
perchance  wholy  tolerable.  ..." 

The  vocabulary  used  in  the  Rheims  Testament  is 
noteworthy,  because,  as  the  translators  tell  us  in  the 
Preface,  they  followed  closely  the: — 

"old  vulgar  approved  Latin:  not  only  in  sense,  which  we 
hope  we  alwaies  doe,  but  sometime  in  the  very  wordes  also 
and  phrases,  which  may  seeme  to  the  vulgar  Reader,  and 
to  common  English  eares,  not  yet  acquainted  therewith, 
rudenesse  or  ignorance:  but  to  the  discrete  Reader  that 
deepely  weigheth  and  considereth  the  importance  of  sacred 
wordes  and  speaches,  and  how  easily  the  voluntarie  Transla- 
tour  may  misse  the  true  sense  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  we  doubt 
not  but  our  consideration  and  doing  therein,  shal  seeme 
reasonable  and  necessarie:  yea  and  that  al  sortes  of  Catholike 
Readers  wil  in  shorte  time  thinke  that  famiHar,  which  at  the 
first  may  seeme  strange  and  wil  esteeme  it  more,  when  they 
shal  otherwise  be  taught  to  understand  it,  then  if  it  were 
the  common  knowen  English." 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I582-161I  381 

The  position  is  taken  that,  since  there  are  no  EngHsh 
equivalents  for  many  words  in  Scripture,  it  is  better  to 
transfer  them  untranslated  to  the  English  text,  in  the 
hope  that  they  will  become  familiar  and  intelligible, 
than  to  represent  them  by  words  which  give  only  a 
part  of  the  meaning,  or  which  substitute  another  mean- 
ing for  that  of  the  original.  This  is  stated  in  part  as 
follows : — 

"Againe,  if  Hosanna,  Raca,  BeliaU  and  such  like  be  yet 
untranslated  in  the  English  Bibles,  why  may  we  not  say 
Corhana  and  Parasceve:  specially  when  they,  Englishing  this 
later  thus,  the  preparation  of  the  Sahboth,  put  three  wordes 
more  into  the  text  then  the  Greeke  word  doth  signifie.  Mat. 
27:62." 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  there  had  been  a  number  of 
English  versions  earlier  than  that  of  Rheims  and  that, 
except  for  the  brief  reign  of  Mary  1 553-1 558,  the  Eng- 
lish, since  the  time  of  Henry  VIII,  have  been  through 
their  State  Church,  and  through  the  religious  affilia- 
tions of  the  great  majority  of  the  people,  a  Protestant 
nation,  the  Roman  Catholic  translation  never  became 
very  widely  read.  It  was  probably  issued  as  part  of 
an  effort  to  win  back  England  to  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church  by  controverting  the  teachings  of  the  annotated 
Protestant  versions.  How  strong  the  feeling  was  in 
regard  to  the  translations  is  shown  by  a  story  of  the 
Earl  of  Kent  who,  when  Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  on 
the  night  before  her  execution,  swore  her  innocence  on 
a  copy  of  the  Rheims  Testament,  said  that  the  oath 
was  void,  as  the  book  was  not  a  proper  translation. 
Mary  is  said  to  have  replied,  "Does  your  lordship 
think  that  my  oath  would  be  better  if  I  swore  on  your 
translation,  in  which  I  do  not  believe.^" 


382  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

The  preface  of  the  Rheims  Testament  attacks  the 
Protestant  translations  on  many  points.  As  the  latter, 
through  long  use,  were  familiar  to  the  people,  and  as 
religious  differences  were  acute,  it  is  probable  that  these 
attacks  interfered  with  the  attention  which  would 
have  been  paid  otherwise  to  the  Rheims  translation. 
We  quote  here  words  used  in  a  careful  study  of  the 
influence  of  Rheims  on  the  English  Bible: — "When 
we  compare  chapter  after  chapter,  the  translation  of 
Rheims  with  the  earlier  versions,  we  are  struck  more 
by  their  resemblances  than  their  differences.  We  feel 
that,  in  spite  of  the  hostile  attitude  which  it  thought 
fit  to  assume  towards  them,  it  is  a  lineal  descendant 
of  the  versions  which  preceded  it,  and  well  entitled 
to  take  an  honorable  place  in  the  connected  series  of 
EngHsh  Bibles."  1 

With  the  date  1609  appeared: — 

"  The  Holy  Bible  Faithfully  Translated  into  Eng- 
lish, out  of  the  Authentical  Latin;  diligently  conferred  with 
the  Hebrew,  Greeke  and  other  Editions  in  divers  languages; 
with  Arguments  of  the  Bookes,  and  Chapters,  Annotations, 
Tables,  and  other  helps  for  better  understanding  of  the  text, 
for  the  discoverie  of  Corruptions  in  some  late  translations, 
and  for  clearing  Controversies  in  Religion;  by  The  English 
College  of  Douay,  Printed  at  Douajy  by  Lawrence  Kellam, 
at  the  signe  of  the  Holie  Lambe,  1609." 

This  was  in  two  volumes,  containing  only  the  Old 
Testament,  thus  completing  the  Roman  Catholic  ver- 
sion. The  whole  Bible  in  the  Rheims-Douay  Version 
was  published  complete  in   1633-35  ^^  Rouen.     The 

*  J.  G.  Carleton,  Rhfims  and  the  English  Bible:  the  Part  of  Rheims  in  the 
making  of  it,  1902,  Oxford,  p.  20. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I582-161I  383 

King  James  Version  of  1611  had  been  in  preparation 
since  1604  and  it  is  likely  that  this  fact  had  something 
to  do  with  the  issuing  of  the  Douay  translation  in 
1609-10.  In  1589  William  Fulke,  a  Protestant,  referred 
to  above,  published  the  Rheims  New  Testament  and 
the  Bishops'  version  in  parallel  columns,  with  the 
Rheims  notes  alternating  with  his  replies  to  them.  He 
termed  the  Rheims  version  *'The  Text  of  the  New 
Testament  of  Jesus  Christ,  translated  out  of  the  vulgar 
Latin  by  the  Papists  of  the  traiterous  seminarie  at 
Rhemes."  Fulke's  folio  (reprinted  in  1601,  1617,  and 
1633)  was  for  many  years  a  standard  Protestant  work. 
The  Douay  Bible  as  issued  to-day  differs  greatly, 
through  revisions  and  changes,  from  the  original  ver- 
sions of  the  Rheims  Testament  of  1582  and  the  Douay 
Old  Testament  of  1609.  The  literalness  of  the  transla- 
tion from  the  Latin  caused  many  passages  to  appear  un- 
English,  as  in  Philippians  2:7,  where  the  Rheims  read 
"He  exinanited  himself."^  The  Geneva,  Great  Bible, 
Coverdale  and  Tindale  read,  "made  himself  of  no 
reputation."  In  Matthew  21:20,  the  Rheims  read 
"How  is  it  withered  incontinent.^",  where  other 
versions  read  "How  soon  is  the  figge  tree  withered 
away.?"  In  the  translation  of  the  Psalms  the  differ- 
ences between  the  Douay  Version  of  1609  and  the 
other  English  versions  are  more  pronounced,  than  in 
any  other  book,^  the  un-English  quality  of  the  trans- 
lation being  here  In  marked  contrast  to  the  English  of 
the  time.     Bishop  Westcott  says: — "The  Psalter  is 

*  Vulgate,  "semetipsum  exinanivit." 

2  It  must  be  remembered  that  the  Psalter  of  the  Vulgate  is  the  Gallican 
which  replaced  the  Roman  in  1566.  Both  were  revisions  by  Jerome  of  the 
Old  Latin  version  which  was  based  on  the  Septuagint.  Jerome's  translation 
of  the  Psalter  directly  from  Hebrew  never  replaced  the  Gallican.  This 
accounts  for  some  of  the  differences  in  EngUsh  versions  of  the  Psalms. 


384  A    BOOK    ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

the  most  unsatisfactory  part  of  the  whole  book.  Even 
where  the  sense  is  sufficiently  clear  to  remain  distinct 
through  three  translations,  from  Hebrew  to  Greek, 
from  Greek  to  Latin,  from  Latin  to  English,  the  stiff, 
foreign  style  sounds  strangely  unsuited  to  words  of 
devotion."  ^ 

Psalm  23,  which  has  been  quoted,  because  familiar, 
as  a  specimen  of  the  translation  of  Coverdale  1535  and 
the  Great  Bible  1539,  may  again  be  used  as  a  basis  of 
comparison.  It  is  Psalm  22  in  the  Vulgate,  and  is 
based  on  the  Gallican  version: — 

"Our  Lord  ruleth  me,  and  nothing  shall  be  wanting  to  me: 
in  place  of  pasture  there  He  hath  placed  me.  Upon  the  water 
of  refection  He  hath  brought  me  up:  He  hath  converted  my 
soul.  He  hath  conducted  me  upon  the  paths  of  justice  for 
His  name.  For  although  I  shall  walk  in  the  midst  of  the 
shadow  of  death,  I  will  not  fear  evils:  because  Thou  art  with 
me.  Thy  rod  and  Thy  staff,  they  have  comforted  me.  Thou 
has  prepared  in  my  sight  a  table  against  them  that  trouble 
me.  Thou  has  fatted  my  head  with  oil:  and  my  chalice 
inebriating  how  goodly  is  it!  2  And  Thy  mercy  shall  follow 
me  all  the  days  of  my  life:  and  that  I  may  dwell  in  the  house 
of  our  Lord  in  longitude  of  days."  »    Douay  Version,  1609. 

There  are  striking  similarities  between  this  version 
of  the  Psalm  and  that  of  the  Wycliffite  revision  of 
1388,  based  on  the  Roman  Psalter,  which  is  here  given 
for  comparison: — 

"The  Lord  govemeth  me,  and  no  thing  schal  faile  to  me; 
in  the  place  of  pasture  there  he  hath  set  me.  He  nurschide 
me  on  the  watir  of  refreischyng;  he  convertide  my  soule. 

1  B.  F.  Westcott,  A  General  View  of  the  History  of  the  English  Bible,  3d 
edition,  edited  by  W.  A.  Wright,  Lonclon,  1905,  p.  257. 
'Vulgate,  "et  calix  meus  inebrians  quam  praeclarus  est." 
'  The  spelling  is  modernized. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    1582-1611  385 

He  ledde  me  forth  on  the  pathis  of  rightfulnesse;  for  his 
name.  For  whi  though  Y  schal  go  in  the  myddis  of  schadewe 
of  deeth;  Y  shcal  not  drede  yuels,  for  thou  art  with  me. 
Thi  gerde  and  thi  staf;  tho  han  coumfortid  me.  Thou  hast 
maad  redi  a  boord  in  my  sight;  agens  hem  that  troblen  me. 
Thou  hast  maad  fat  myn  heed  with  oyle;  and  my  cuppe 
fillinge  greetli,  is  ful  cleer.  And  thi  merci  schal  sue  me; 
in  alle  the  daies  of  my  Hjf.  And  that  Y  dwelle  in  the  hows 
of  the  Lord;  in  to  the  lengthe  of  daies."  Wycliffite  Revision, 
1388. 

A  careful  revision  of  the  Vulgate,  of  which  Cardinal 
Allen  was  one  of  the  editors,  appeared  in  1592,  and  was 
approved  by  Pope  Clement  VIII  as  the  authorized 
version.  The  Rheims  New  Testament  with  changes 
in  the  text,  and  with  increased  and  rearranged  notes, 
was  reissued  in  1600  at  Antwerp.  The  translation  of 
the  Old  Testament,  finished  in  1582,  but  not  printed 
until  1609,  was  made  to  accord  with  the  text  of  the 
new  standard  Vulgate.  A  third  edition  of  the  New 
Testament,  at  Antwerp,  was  issued  in  pocket  size, 
showing  probably  an  increase  in  the  number  of  Ro- 
man Catholic  readers.  As  Ireland  was  mostly  Roman 
Catholic,  and  as  the  older  editions  were  difficult  to 
understand,  a  new  version  of  the  New  Testament, 
from  the  Vulgate,  was  made  by  a  priest.  Father  Nary. 
This  was  approved,  and  published  1719  in  Dublin. 
A  fourth  new  version  of  the  New  Testament,  in  Eng- 
lish, was  published  in  1730.  It  was  by  Robert  Witham, 
the  head  of  the  Seminary  at  Douay.  The  most  im- 
portant revision,  however,  was  by  Richard  Challoner, 
a  Douay  scholar,  who  in  1749,  issued  the  New  Testa- 
ment, and  in  1750  the  whole  Bible,  which  he  continued 
to  revise  until  1777.  A  revision  of  Challoner's  New 
Testament  in  1781  by  Father  McMahon,  followed  in 


386  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

1791  by  the  whole  Bible,  for  Roman  Catholics,  un- 
der the  approbation  of  Archbishop  Troy  of  Dublin, 
is  known  as  "Troy's  Bible."  ^  Cardinal  Newman  said 
of  Challoner,  that  in  the  Old  Testament,  his  work  was 
"little  short  of  a  new  translation,  nearer  to  the  Protes- 
tant than  it  is  to  the  Douay"  and  "at  this  day  the 
Douay  Old  Testament  no  longer  exists  as  a  Received 
Version  of  the  Authentic  Vulgate."  In  1851  Arch- 
bishop Kenrick  of  Philadelphia,  completed  a  revision  of 
the  New  Testament,  and  in  1862,  the  whole  Bible,  with 
a  preface  and  notes  critical  and  explanatory.  For  the 
Old  Testament  Challoner's  text  is  very  nearly  what 
may  be  termed  a  received  text,  but  there  is  really  no  re- 
ceived text  of  the  Rheims  New  Testament  among  Eng- 
lish speaking  Roman  Catholics,  and  neither  is  there  any 
received  text  of  the  Bible  in  English  among  Protestants 
though,  owing  to  three  centuries  of  use,  the  King  James 
Version  is  commonly  regarded  as  such,  the  Revised 
Versions  not  yet  having  displaced  it.  Monsignor 
Ward,  President  of  St.  Edmond's  College,  says^  that 
the  Douay  Version  "is  full  of  Latinisms,  so  it  has  little 
of  the  rhythmic  harmony  of  the  Anglican  Authorized 
Version,  which  has  become  part  of  the  literature  of 
the  nation,"  but  in  accuracy  and  scholarship  it  is  "su- 
perior to  any  of  the  English  versions  which  had  pre- 
ceded it,  and  it  is  understood  to  have  had  great  influence 
on  the  translators  of  the  King  James  Version."  The 
changes  made  by  revisers  of  the  Douay  Version  after 
1611,  as  Monsignor  Ward  says,  "took  the  form  of 
approximating  to  the  Authorized  Version." 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  no  translation  of  the 

^  See  Thf  Catholic  Encyclopediay  s.  v.  "Douay  Bible,"  and  "Gregory 
Martin." 

*  In  his  article,  on  "Gregory  Martin"  in  The  Catholic  Encyclopedia, 


THE   ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I582-161I  387 

Vulgate  into  any  language  has  ever  been  authorized  by 
the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  but  any  translation  that 
has  received  the  approval  of  the  Bishop,  or  other  proper 
Church  authority,  may  be  read  by  Roman  Catholics. 

Any  comparison  of  the  Rheims-Douay  Version  with 
other  English  Bibles  must  take  into  account  the  fact 
that  it  is  a  translation  of  the  Vulgate,  and  therefore 
may  be  expected  to  differ,  not  only  in  the  choice  of 
English  words  or  expressions,  but  also  in  text.  Many 
differences  are  due  to  variations  in  the  originals  from 
which  the  translations  were  made,  and  these  are  often 
due  to  the  manuscripts  from  which  the  texts  were 
derived.^  Differences  in  the  English,  where  there  was 
no  essential  difference  in  meaning  between  the  Hebrew 
or  Greek  and  the  Vulgate,  were  largely  matters  of 
preference,  or  of  interpretation,  on  the  part  of  the 
translators.  Fulke's  volume  containing  the  Rheims 
and  the  Bishops'  versions  of  the  New  Testament, 
probably  had  considerable  influence  in  determining 
many  of  the  changes  due  to  the  Rheims  Version,  which 
were  made  by  the  Revisers  of  the  King  James  Bible. 
The  Rheims  translators  were  conscientious  in  their 
efforts  to  translate  correctly,  and  many  Latin  deriv- 
atives appear  in  their  version,  because  representing 
more  accurately,  they  thought,  than  any  other  words, 
the  meaning  of  the  Vulgate.  These  Latin  derivatives 
were  in  some  instances  adopted  by  the  King  James 
translators,  and  replaced  words  used  in  earlier  versions. 
An  example  of  this  is  in  the  familiar  I  Corinthians, 
ch.  13.     The  Wyclifiite  versions,  translated  from  the 

^  It  must  always  be  borne  in  mind  that  Jerome  was,  in  point  of  time, 
more  than  a  thousand  years  nearer  the  original  manuscripts  of  the  Bible 
than  were  the  translators  of  the  sixteenth  century,  and  he  may  have  had 
access  to  manuscripts  afterwards  lost.  This  would  account  for  differences 
in  text. 


388  A   BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Vulgate,  had  the  word  "charitie,"  which  in  Tindale, 
Coverdale,  the  Great  Bible  and  the  Geneva  Bible  was 
replaced  by  "love."  The  Rheims  Testament,  trans- 
lated from  the  Vulgate,  reverted  to  "charitie,"  and 
was  followed  in  this  by  the  King  James  Version  1611. 
The  Revised  Version  1881,  and  the  American  Revised 
Version  1901  have  again  changed  the  English  word 
and  read  "love." 

There  are  important  differences  between  the  Rheims- 
Douay  and  other  English  versions  due  to  differences 
of  readings  in  the  same  passage,  or  to  the  inclusion  or 
omission  of  passages,  in  the  respective  original  sources. 
One  kind  of  textual  difference  referred  to,  resulting  in 
differences  of  reading,  is  illustrated  by  Luke  2:14,  the 
Song  of  the  Angels,  which  appears  thus  in  various 
English  versions: — 

"  Glory  be  in  the  highest  things  to  God :  and  in  erthe  pees 
be  to  men  of  good  wille."    Wycliffite  Version,  1380. 

"  Glory  to  God  an  hye  and  peace  on  the  erth :  and  unto 
men  rejoysynge."    Tindale,  1534. 

"  Glory  to  God  on  hye,  and  peace  on  the  erth,  and  unto 
men  a  good  wyll."    The  Great  Bible,  1539. 

"Glorie  be  to  God  in  the  hye  heavens,  and  peace  in  earth, 
and  towardes  men  good  wyl.**    The  Geneva  Testament,  1557. 

"  Glorie  in  the  highest  to  God :  And  in  earth  peace  to  men 
of  good  will."    Rheims  Testament,  1582. 

"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  and  on  earth  peace,  good 
will  towards  men."    King  James  Version,  1611. 

"  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest.  And  on  earth  peace  among 
men  in  whom  he  is  well  pleased."  Revised  Version,  1 881. 
American  Revised  Version,  1901. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    I582-I6II  389 

The  similarity  between  the  Rheims  and  Wycliffite 
is  due  to  the  fact  that  they  are  both  translations  of  the 
Vulgate,  the  text  of  which  differs  from  the  Greek  orig- 
inal of  the  other  versions.  We  are  reminded  of  a 
passage  in  The  Innocents  Abroad,  Chapter  28: — 

"I  wish  here  to  mention  an  inscription  I  have  seen,  before 
I  forget  it: 

"  *  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest,  peace  on  earth  to  men  of 
good  will!'  It  is  not  good  scripture,  but  it  is  sound  Catholic, 
and  human  nature." 

It  happens  to  be  good  scripture,  if  you  read  the  Vul- 
gate, or  a  translation  of  it.  Mark  Twain  was  in  Rome, 
but  he  was  thinking  of  the  King  James  Version. 

A  second  difference  between  the  Rheims-Douay  and 
the  other  versions  is  in  the  inclusion,  or  omission,  of 
passages,  due  to  differences  in  original  sources.  This  is 
illustrated  by  Matthew  6:13,  the  ascription  at  the  close 
of  the  Lord's  Prayer: — 

"For  thine  is  the  kingdom  and  the  power  and  the  glory 
forever.    Amen." 

The  Rheims-Douay  and  the  Wycliffite  omit  this,  be- 
cause it  is  not  in  the  Vulgate.  Other  versions  include 
it  because  it  is  in  the  Greek.  The  Revised  Version  and 
the  American  Revised  Version  omit  it,  because  Greek 
manuscripts  differ,  and  some  of  the  best  omit  it. 

Another  example  of  textual  difference  between  ver- 
sions is  found  in  Psalm  14  (Psalm  13,  Rheims-Douay) 
which  has  already  been  mentioned.^  The  numbering  of 
the  Psalms  in  the  Rheims-Douay,  following  the  Vul- 
gate, differs  from  the  versions  which  were  based  directly 

^  See  above  p.  374. 


390  A   BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

on  the  Hebrew  text.  The  greatest  difference  in  the 
versions  is  the  inclusion  of  the  Apocrypha  (except  the 
Prayer  of  Manasses  and  I  and  II  Esdras),  in  the 
Douay  Version,  among  the  canonical  books,  because 
the  Vulgate  contained  it. 

It  is  clear  then  that  quite  apart  from  the  "bitter 
notes"  which  necessarily  gave  offense  to  many,  there 
were  differences  in  what  Tindale  had  called  "a  bare 
text  of  the  Scriptures."  Stripped  of  their  notes  and 
other  accompanying  material  the  "bare  texts"  of  the 
English  versions  differ,  because  they  are  not  transla- 
tions of  the  same  originals. 


CHAPTER  XX 

THE  ENGLISH  VERSIONS  1611-1881 

When  James  I  ascended  the  throne  in  1603,  there 
was  religious  dissension,  not  only  between  his  Protes- 
tant and  Roman  Catholic  subjects,  but  also  between 
different  groups  of  Protestants.  The  Geneva  Bible  with 
its  notes  had  not  been  acceptable  to  the  Bishops  while 
the  Bishops'  Bible  was  never  the  version  commonly 
read  in  the  homes  of  the  Puritans.  The  Roman  Catho- 
lic New  Testament  had  attacked  all  Protestant  versions 
as  inaccurate.  Fulke  had  published  his  New  Testa- 
ment with  the  Rheims  and  Bishops'  Bible  versions 
parallel,  and  with  controversial  notes.  It  was  evident 
that  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  into  English  must 
be  made  for  the  purpose  of  reconciling,  if  possible, 
differences  of  opinion  caused  by  lack  of  uniformity  in 
the  current  versions.  This  need  had  been  recognized 
during  the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  for  there  is  in  the  British 
Museum  the  draft  for  an  Act  of  Parliament  the  title 
of  which  is : — 

"An  act  for  the  reducinge  of  diversities  of  Bibles  now  ex- 
tant in  the  Englishe  tongue  to  one  setled  vulgar  translated 
from  the  originall." 

The  purpose  of  the  Act  is  stated  to  be: — 

"For  avoydinge  of  the  multiplicitie  of  errors,  that  are 
rashly  conceaved  by  the  inferior  and  vulgar  sorte  by  the 

391 


392  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

varietie  of  the  translacions  of  Bible  to  the  most  daungerous 
increase  of  papistrie  and  atheisme.*'  * 

The  relations  of  Church  and  State  made  the  questions 
of  Bible  translation  political,  as  well  as  religious,  a  fact 
to  which  attention  was  called  by  King  James,  at  the 
Hampton  Court  Conference,  in  January,  1604,  between 
the  King  and  representatives  of  the  Bishops,  and  of  the 
Puritan  party.    The  King: — 

"...  gave  this  caveat  (upon  a  word  cast  out  by  my  Lord 
of  London)  that  no  marginall  notes  should  be  added,  having 
found  in  them  which  are  annexed  to  the  Geneva  translation 
(which  he  sawe  in  a  Bible  given  him  by  an  English  Lady), 
some  notes  very  partiall,  untrue,  seditious,  and  savoring 
too  much  of  daungerous  and  trayterous  conceites.  As  for 
example,  Exod.  1:19  where  the  marginal  note  alloweth 
disobedience  to  Kings.  And  2  Chron.  15:16,  the  note  taxeth 
Asa  for  deposing  his  mother,  onely  and  not  killing  her**  ^ 

Such  questions  connected  with  the  translating  of  the 
Bible  were  very  much  in  the  public  mind  and  were 
leading  directly  to  the  Civil  War  between  Parliament 
and  King,  the  Geneva  Bible  being  the  version  used 
by  the  Puritans  and  continuing  to  be  printed  long  after 
the  new  version  had  appeared. 

THE    KING    JAMES    BIBLE 

The  result  of  the  Conference  was  that  a  new  version 
of  the  Bible  was  decided  upon,  and  the  Dean  of  West- 
minster and  the  Regius  Professors  of  Hebrew  at  Oxford 
and  Cambridge  were  asked  for  the  names  of  competent 

1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  p.  329. 
« Ibid.,  p.  46. 


THE    ENGLISH   VERSIONS    161I-1881  393 

scholars  to  do  the  work.  Later  Bancroft,  Bishop  of 
London,  sent  to  the  other  Bishops  a  letter  enclosing 
one  from  the  King,  dated  July  22,  1604,  in  which  the 
King  stated  that  he  had  appointed  fifty-four  learned 
men  for  the  translating  of  the  Bible.  Various  lists  of 
names  of  the  translators  differ,  about  fifty  such  names 
being  given,  only  forty-seven  on  any  one  list.  "The 
most  trustworthy  is  that  printed  by  Bishop  Burnet  in 
his  History  of  the  Reformation  ^  ^ 

The  translators  were  divided  into  six  groups,  to  each 
of  which  was  assigned  a  different  portion  of  the  Bible. 
These  groups  were  to  meet  at  Oxford,  Cambridge  and 
Westminster  respectively,  for  conference.  When  the 
work  of  the  groups  was  completed  the  whole  was  re- 
viewed by  a  final  board  of  twelve  revisers,  which  met 
daily  for  nine  months  at  Stationers'  Hall.  Each  mem- 
ber of  a  group  translated  the  whole  of  the  portion  that 
had  been  assigned  to  the  group.  The  group  then  met 
and  after  discussion  decided  upon  a  translation  that 
should  be  submitted  for  final  review.  When  the  whole 
work  had  been  completed  and  revised  by  the  sub- 
committee of  reviewers,  it  received  the  finishing  touches 
from  Bilson,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  Miles  Smith, 
later  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  and  it  is  said  that  Bancroft, 
Bishop  of  London,  insisted  on  fourteen  alterations.^ 
The  actual  work  of  revision  took  four  years;  1607-9 
being  the  period  during  which  conferences  of  the  six 
groups  were  held;  1610  the  year  during  which  the  re- 
viewing committee  met  at  Stationers'  Hall;  and  i6ia-ii 
the  period  of  printing.  To  translation  by  the  individual 
members  of  the  groups  was  presumably  given  1604-7. 
The  version  thus   produced    was  not,  like  preceding 

1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  BihUy  p.  49. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  55-58. 


394  A    BOOK  ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

versions,  largely  the  work  of  an  individual,  either  with 
or  without  assistance,  but  was  truly  representative  of 
the  best  opinions  of  the  time.  Bancroft,  Bishop  of 
London,  had  stated  in  the  Conference  at  Hampton 
Court,  that  "if  every  man's  humour  should  be  followed, 
there  would  be  no  ende  of  translating. " 

In  the  preface  of  1611  "The  Translators  to  the 
Reader,"  is  a  discussion  of  the  general  problems  by 
which  the  translators  were  confronted.  They  refer 
to  previous  versions  in  Greek  and  Latin,  and  to  the 
work  of  their  immediate  predecessors  in  English  and 
say: — 

"Truly  (good  Christian  Reader)  wee  never  thought  from 
the  beginning,  that  we  should  neede  to  make  a  new  Transla- 
tion, nor  yet  to  make  of  a  bad  one  a  good  one,  (for  then  the 
imputation  of  Sixtus  had  bene  true  in  some  sort,  that  our 
people  had  bene  fed  with  gall  of  Dragons  in  stead  of  wine, 
with  whey  in  stead  of  milke:)  but  to  make  a  good  one  better, 
or  out  of  many  good  ones,  one  principall  good  one,  not  justly 
to  be  excepted  against;  that  hath  bene  our  indeavour,  that 
our  marke.  To  that  purpose  there  were  many  chosen,  that 
were  greater  in  other  mens  eyes  then  in  their  owne,  and  that 
sought  the  truth  rather  then  their  own  praise." 

It  was  with  the  King  James  Version  as  with  the 
Bishops'  Bible.  General  rules  were  laid  down  in  ad- 
vance for  the  guidance  of  the  translators.  As  the  ver- 
sion of  1611  has  remained  for  three  centuries  the 
most  widely  used  English  version,  the  rules  by  which 
the  translators  endeavored  to  avoid  what  had  proved 
unsatisfactory,  and  to  retain,  with  necessary  or  desir- 
able changes,  all  that  was  good  in  previous  versions 
are  of  importance  in  any  account  of  the  translation. 
They  are  therefore  given: — 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    161I-I881  395 

"  The  Rules  to  be  observed  in  the  Translation  of  the 
Bibler 

"i.  The  ordinary  Bible  read  in  the  Church,  commonly 
called  the  Bishops  Bible,  to  be  followed,  and  as  little  altered 
as  the  Truth  of  the  original  will  permit." 

"2.  The  names  of  the  Prophets,  and  the  Holy  Writers, 
with  the  other  Names  of  the  Text,  to  be  retained,  as  nigh 
as  may  be,  accordingly  as  they  were  vulgarly  used." 

"3.  The  Old  Ecclesiastical  Words  to  be  kept,  viz.  the  Word 
Church  not  to  be  translated  Congregation  &c." 

"4.  When  a  Word  hath  divers  Significations,  that  to  be 
kept  which  hath  been  most  commonly  used  by  the  most  of 
the  Ancient  Fathers,  being'  agreeable  to  the  Propriety  of  the 
Place,  and  the  Analogy  of  the  Faith." 

"5.  The  Division  of  the  Chapters  to  be  altered,  either  not 
at  all,  or  as  little  as  may  be,  if  Necessity  so  require." 

"6.  No  Marginal  Notes  at  all  to  be  affixed,  but  only  for 
the  explanation  of  the  Hebrew  or  Greek  Words,  which  cannot 
without  some  circumlocution,  so  briefly  and  fitly  be  expressed 
in  the  Text." 

"7.  Such  Quotations  of  Places  to  be  marginally  set  down 
as  shall  serve  for  the  fit  Reference  of  one  Scripture  to  an- 
other." 

"8.  Every  particular  Man  of  each  Company,  to  take  the 
same  Chapter  or  Chapters,  and  having  translated  or  amended 
them  severally  by  himself,  where  he  thinketh  good,  all  to 
meet  together,  confer  what  they  have  done,  and  agree  for 
their  Parts  what  shall  stand." 

"9.  As  any  one  Company  hath  dispatched  any  one  Book 
in  this  Manner  they  shall  send  it  to  the  rest,  to  be  considered 
of  seriously  and  judiciously,  for  His  Majesty  is  very  careful 
in  this  Point." 

"  10.  If  any  Company,  upon  the  Review  of  the  Book  so 
sent,  doubt  or  differ  upon  any  Place,  to  send  them  Word 
thereof;  note  the  Place,  and  withal  send  the  Reasons,  to 
which  if  they  consent  not,  the  Difference  to  be  compounded 


396  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

at  the  General  Meeting,  which  is  to  be  of  the  chief  Persons 
of  each  Company,  at  the  end  of  the  Work." 

"11.  When  any  Place  of  special  Obscurity  is  doubted  of 
Letters  to  be  directed  by  Authority,  to  send  to  any  Learned 
Man  in  the  Land,  for  his  Judgement  of  such  a  Place." 

"12.  Letters  to  be  sent  from  every  Bishop  to  the  rest  of 
his  Clergy,  admonishing  them  of  this  Translation  in  hand; 
and  to  move  and  charge  as  many  as  being  skilful  in  the 
Tongues;  and  having  taken  pains  in  that  kind,  to  send  his 
particular  Observations  to  the  Company,  either  at  West- 
minster, Cambridge,  or  Oxford" 

"13.  The  Directors  in  each  Company,  to  be  the  Deans  of 
Westminster,  and  Chester  for  that  Place;  and  the  King's  Pro- 
fessors in  the  Hebrew  or  Greek  in  either  University." 

(c        T"!        ^        1  ^-  1  Tindoll's 

14.    1  hese  translations  to       1  ^      , 

be  used  when  they  agree  better   1  ^        ^  1  ' 

with  the  Text  than  the  Bishops  j  „2X  ^,  ^  ^  ,  ,  r^  t^m  1  i 
r>M  1  ^     I  Whitchurch  s  [Great  Bible] 

■DiDie.  I  r^  j> 

\  Geneva. 


"15.  Besides  the  said  Directors  before  mentioned,  three  or 
four  of  the  most  Ancient  and  Grave  Divines,  in  either  of  the 
Universities,  not  employed  in  Translating,  to  be  assigned  by 
the  Vice-Chancellor,  upon  Conference  with  the  rest  of  the 
Heads,  to  be  Overseers  of  the  Translations  as  well  Hebrew 
as  Greek,  for  the  better  Observation  of  the  4th  Rule  above 
specified."  ^ 

Rules  I,  3  and  6  reflect  the  religious  controversies  of 
the  time,  which  were  more  than  theological,  and  were 
concerned  almost  as  much  with  matters  of  polity  in 
Church  and  State,  as  with  articles  of  faith. 

The  successive  versions  of  the  English  Bible  were 

»  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  pp.  53-55. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    161I-1881  397 

based  in  almost  every  instance  on  the  best  available 
translations  and  original  sources.  We  find  that  the 
King  James  translators  used  two  new  Latin  versions, 
one  the  Old  Testament  by  Arias  Montanus  given  in  the 
Antwerp  Polyglot  of  1569-72,  the  other  the  Old  and 
New  Testaments  by  Tremellius,  1580  and  1584,  with 
Apocrypha  by  Franciscus  Junius.  Beza's  Greek  Testa- 
ment, based  on  that  of  Stephanus,  had  appeared  in 
1565  and  was  followed  by  four  other  editions  in  1576, 
1582,  1589  and  1598.  The  Greek  text  of  the  1589 
edition  was  the  one  usually  followed  in  the  1611  version 
of  the  English  Bible.  John  Selden  gives  in  his  Table 
Talk  an  account  of  the  deliberations  of  the  board  of 
review  and  says: — 

"They  met  together,  and  one  read  the  translation,  the 
rest  holding  in  their  hands  some  Bible,  either  of  the  learned 
tongues,  or  of  French,  Spanish,  Italian,  etc." 

There  were  new  versions  in  French,  1587-8,  Geneva, 
Italian,  1607,  by  Diodati,  and  Spanish,  1602,  by  Ci- 
priano  de  Valera.  The  translators  in  their  Preface 
mention  the  "Spanish,  French,  Italian,"  and  "Dutch" 
translators  and  commentators  as  well  as  the  "  Chaldee, 
Hebrewe,  Syrian,  Greeke"  and  "Latin." 

Although  the  Rheims  Version  is  ignored  in  the  di- 
rections to  the  translators  of  the  King  James  Version, 
as  the  Geneva  Version  had  been  ignored  in  the  direc- 
tions to  the  translators  of  the  Bishops'  Bible,  yet  in 
each  case  the  translators  were  influenced  by  the  ver- 
sion that  had  not  been  mentioned.  The  title-page  of 
the  new  version  reads: — 

"The  Holy  Bible,  Conteyning  the  Old  Testament,  and 
the  New:  Newly  translated  out  of  the  Original!  tongues: 


39^  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

and  with  the  former  Translations  diligently  compared  and 
revised,  by  his  Majesties  speciall  Commandement.  Ap- 
pointed to  be  read  in  Churches.  Imprinted  at  London  by 
Robert  Barker,  Printer  to  the  Kings  most  Excellent  Majestic. 
Anno  Dom.  1611." 

In  copies  of  the  title-page  of  the  King  James  Bible, 
as  printed  in  England,  appear  the  words  "Appointed 
to  be  read  in  Churches,"  and  the  version  is  commonly 
known  as  the  "Authorized  Version,''  perhaps  from 
that  fact.  We  have  no  record  of  any  special  action  of 
Church,  or  Parliament,  or  King,  which  would  justify 
that  title.  In  1881,  June  3d,  Lord  Chancellor  Selborne 
wrote  to  the  London  Times,  expressing  the  opinion 
that  the  words  on  the  title-page  would  probably  not 
have  been  used  without  official  sanction,  and  suggest- 
ing that  they  were  authorized  by  an  Order  in  Council 
the  record  of  which  is  no  longer  extant,  because  "all 
the  Council  books  and  registers  from  the  year  1600- 
161 3,  inclusive,  were  destroyed  by  a  fire  at  Whitehall, 
on  the  I2th  of  January,  1618  (O.  S.)."  This  is  possible, 
but,  as  Mr.  Pollard  says,  "As  far  as  I  know  it  has 
never  been  contended  that  there  was  any  Order  in 
Council  passed  in  1584  or  1585  to  justify"  the  placing 
of  the  words  *  Authorized  and  Appointed  to  be  read 
in  Churches'  on  the  title-page  of  the  Bishops'  Bible, 
where  they  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  1585,  so  prob- 
ably the  words  "Appointed  to  be  read  in  Churches" 
on  the  version  of  161 1  "literally  expressed  the  facts 
that  this  Bible  was  printed  by  the  King's  printer 
with  the  approval  of  the  King  and  the  Bishops 
for  use  in  churches,  and  that  no  competing  edi- 
tion *of  the  largest  volume'  was  allowed  to  be  pub- 
lished." 1 

1  A.  W.  Pollard,  Records  of  the  English  BibUy  p.  60. 


THE    ENGLISH   VERSIONS    161I-188I  399 

The  average  reader  probably  thinks  that  we  have  in 
our  modern  copies  of  the  King  James  Bible,  -the  identi- 
cal version  that  was  issued  in  161 1.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  there  was  one  notable  difference  between  two 
issues  of  that  version,  both  bearing  the  date  1611,  which 
caused  them  to  be  known  respectively  as  the  "Great 
He  Bible"  and  the  "Great  She  Bible."  In  Ruth  3:15, 
one  reads  "he  went"  and  the  other  "she  went."  Be- 
tween these  two  issues  of  the  same  date  are  several 
thousand  differences  in  text.  It  is  believed  by  some 
that  the  "Great  He  Bible"  is  the  first  issue  of  the 
King  James  Version,  although  other  critics,  among 
them  Dr.  Scrivener,  accord  that  honor  to  the  "Great 
She  Bible."  1 

Many  changes  have  been  made  silently  in  the  text 
in  subsequent  issues.  They  have  usually  been  im- 
provements. Illustrations  of  these  are,  "Thou  art  the 
Christ,"  Matthew  16:16,  and  "The  Servant  is  not 
greater  than  his  lord,"  John  15:20.  The  King  James 
Version  of  1611  reads  "Thou  art  Christ"  and  "The 
Servant  is  not  greater  than  the  Lord."  These  readings 
appeared  first  in  1762,  in  an  edition  by  Dr.  Thomas 
Paris  of  Cambridge.^  In  1769  another  edition  with 
further  changes  appeared  by  Dr.  Benjamin  Blayney 
of  Oxford.^ 

In  1 701  the  marginal  dates  were  placed  in  an  edition 
of  the  King  James  Version  by  Bishop  Lloyd.  These 
dates  are  from  Annales  Veteris  et  Novi  Testamenti, 
1650-54  by  Archbishop  Ussher,  and  are  in  many  in- 

*  For  a  discussion  of  this  see  F.  H.  A.  Scrivener,  The  Authorized  Edition  of 
the  English  Bible,  1611,  Cambridge,  1884;  or,  A.  W.  Pollard,  The  Holy  Bible 
an  exact  reprint  of  the  Authorized  Version,  161 1,  Oxford,  191 1.  Introduction. 
Also,  the  same  author's,  Records  oi  the  English  Bible,  pp.  65-73. 

2  The  Holy  Bible,  edited  by  Thomas  Paris,  Cambridge,  1762. 

'The  Holy  Bible,  corrected  and  edited  by  Benjamin  Blayney,  Oxford, 
1769. 


400  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Stances  incorrect,  as  fuller  knowledge  of  ancient  history- 
has  shown.  The  date  of  Creation  was  fixed  at  4004 
B.  c.  The  King  James  Version  did  not  immediately 
attain  the  position  which  for  more  than  three  centuries 
it  has  held,  for  many,  even  among  the  clergy  of  the 
Church  of  England,  preferred  the  Geneva  Version, 
which  for  some  years  continued  to  be  printed.  From 
1611  to  1881  no  general  authoritative  revision  of 
the  English  Bible  appeared,  although  many  changes 
had  found  their  way  into  the  text  through  the  editions 
of  1629,  printed  at  Cambridge  by  Thomas  and  John 
Buck;  1638,  printed  at  Cambridge  by  Thomas  Buck 
and  Roger  Daniel,  as  well  as  through  the  Paris,  Blayney 
and  Lloyd  versions  mentioned.  These  editions  all 
differed.^  The  King's  printers  issued  an  edition  in 
1 63 1,  for  which  they  were  fined  £300,  because  they 
omitted  the  word  "not"  from  the  seventh  Command- 
ment. In  1716  an  edition,  printed  by  Baskett  contained 
many  errors,  among  them  "Vinegar"  for  "Vineyard," 
in  the  headline  to  Luke,  ch.  20,  hence  this  edition  is 
known  as  the  "Vinegar  Bible,"  and  there  are  other 
editions  with  nicknames. 

In  1833,  the  Oxford  press  published  a  line  for  line 
reprint  of  the  "Great  He  Bible"  of  1611.  In  191 1  the 
161 1  version  was  reprinted  page  for  page  with  an 
Introduction  by  Mr.  A.  W.  Pollard.  In  1851-52  the 
American  Bible  Society  published  an  edition  to  which 
all  subsequent  editions  of  the  Society  conform.  It  was 
intended  to  be  an  accurate  reprint  of  1611.  The  vari- 
ations found  in  six  different  editions  of  the  King  James 
Bible  by  the  Committee  on  Versions  of  the  American 

*A11  changes  from  the  text  of  161 1  are  indicated  in  the  margin  in  the 
Parallel  Bible  A.  V.  and  R.  V.,  1885,  Oxford,  and  in  appendix  A  of  The  Cam- 
bridge Paragraph  Bible,  1873. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    161I-1881  4OI 

Bible  Society  (1851)  were  about  twenty-four  thousand 
in  number. 

VERSIONS    OF    INDIVIDUAL    SCHOLARS 

There  were  many  translations  of  the  whole,  or  parts, 
of  the  Bible  made  by  individuals,  but  these  had  no 
authority  other  than  that  of  the  translators.  It  is 
interesting  to  find  that  in  the  eighteenth  century,  as 
in  the  nineteenth  and  twentieth,  there  were  some  who 
were  not  satisfied  with  the  English  of  the  King  James 
Version  because,  they  thought,  for  one  reason  or  an- 
other, that  it  did  not  come  close  enough  to  the  language 
of  everyday  life.  Two  interesting  translations  of  the 
New  Testament  are  The  New  Testament,  by  William 
Mace,  London,  1729,  and  A  Liberal  Translation  by 
Dr.  Edward  Harwood,  London,  1768.  In  the  first 
of  these  we  read: — 

"When  ye  fast  don't  put  on  a  dismal  air  as  the  hypocrites 
do."    Matthew  6:16. 

"And  the  domestics  slapt  him  on  the  cheeks."    Mark  14:65. 

"If  you  should  respectfully  say  to  the  suit  of  fine  clothes, 
Sit  you  there,  that's  for  quality."    James  2:3. 

From  A  Liberal  Translation  we  learn  that  the  author 
desired  "to  diffuse  over  the  sacred  page  the  elegance 
of  modern  English."  ^ 

*  Benjamin  Franklin  thought  that  the  style  of  the  King  James  Version  was 
obsolete  and  suggested  that  as  a  reason  for  the  neglect  of  reading  of  the 
Bible.  He  gave  specimens  of  what  he  thought  would  be  desirable  changes  in 
the  language: — 

Part  of  the  First  Chapter  of  Job  Modernized 

Verse  6.  "And  it  being  levee  day  in  heaven,  all  God's  nobility  came  to 
court,  to  present  themselves  before  him;  and  Satan  also  appeared  in  the 
circle,  as  one  of  the  ministry." 

Verse  7.  "And  God  said  to  Satan:  You  have  been  a  long  time  absent; 


402  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Dr.  Johnson's  special  praise  of  Dryden  was  that  he 
had  enriched  and  improved  the  EngHsh  language. 
From  the  days  of  Lucian  down  attempts  have  been 
made  to  create  forms  of  speech,  which,  by  their  supe- 
rior grace,  should  commend  themselves  to  the  usage 
of  the  refined  and  cultivated.  Dr.  Harwood's  effort 
belongs  perhaps  in  this  category.  This  is  a  specimen  of 
his  work: — 

"The  daughter  of  Herodias  ...  a  young  lady  who 
danced  with  inimitable  grace  and  elegance."    Matthew  14:6. 

"A  gentleman  of  splendid  family  and  opulent  fortune  had 
two  sons."    Matthew  21:28. 

"My  soul  with  reverence  adores  my  Creator,  and  all  my 
faculties  with  transport  join  in  celebrating  the  goodness  of 
God,  my  Saviour,  who  hath  in  so  signal  a  manner  conde- 
scended to  regard  my  poor  and  humble  station."  Luke  i: 
46-48. 

"We  shall  not  all  pay  the  common  debt  of  nature,  but  we 
shall  by  a  soft  transition  be  changed  from  mortality  to 
immortality."    I  Corinthians  15:51. 

There  were  many  other  contributions  to  the  trans- 
lation of  the  Bible  in  the  eighteenth  century,  as  may 
be  seen  by  any  one  who  will  consult  the  printed  cata- 
logue of  the  British  Museum,  or  such  books  as  Orme's 

where  were  you?    And  Satan  answered:  I  have  been  at  my  country  seat,  and 
in  different  places  visiting  my  friends." 

Verse  9.  "And  Satan  answered;  does  your  Majesty  imagine  that  his 
[Job's]  good  conduct  is  the  effect  of  mere  personal  attachment  and  affection." 

Verse  11.  "Try  him;  only  withdraw  your  favor,  turn  him  out  of  his  places, 
and  withhold  his  pensions,  and  you  will  find  him  in  the  opposition." 

The  Works  of  Benjamin  Franklin^  New  York,  1888,  ed.  John  Bigelow, 
vol.  6,  p.  287. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    161I-188I  4O3 

Biliotheca  Biblica,  Edinburgh,  1824;  and  Home's  Man- 
ual of  Biblical  Bibliography,  London,  1839. 

Many  of  the  efforts  were  directed  at  the  translation 
of  the  New  Testament,  and  some  of  these  are  repre- 
sentative of  special  theological  or  denominational 
views,  such  as  the  Quaker  Bible  of  Anthony  Purver, 
1764,  the  Wakefield  New  Testament,  1792,  which  was 
Unitarian,  and  the  Scarlett  version,  1798,  which  was 
Universalist.  The  translation  of  particular  words  or 
passages  to  prove,  or  to  accord  with,  certain  theological 
views  is  the  characteristic  of  versions  of  this  class, 
which  is  a  somewhat  large  one.  Scholarly  though 
some  of  these  individual  versions  of  books  or  portions 
of  the  Bible  were,  they  did  not  affect  in  any  way  the 
circulation  of  the  King  James  Version. 

EARLY  AMERICAN   VERSIONS   AND    EDITIONS 

The  mention  of  any  considerable  number  of  these 
special  versions  would  be  apart  from  the  purpose  of 
this  sketch,  but  there  is  one  little-known  translation 
of  the  whole  Bible  that  richly  deserves  far  more  atten- 
tion than  it  has  ever  received.  It  is  the  scholarly 
English  version,  translated  throughout  from  the  Greek, 
and  published  in  Philadelphia  in  1808  in  four  volumes. 
The  title-page  reads: — 

"The  Holy  Bible  containing  The  Old  and  New  Covenant, 
commonly  called  The  Old  and  New  Testament:  Translated 
from  the  Greek.  By  Charles  Thomson,  Late  Secretary  to 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  Philadelphia.  Printed 
by  Jane  Aitken,  No.  71,  North  Third  Street.     1808." 

So  far  as  the  present  writer  is  aware,  this  is  the  first 
complete  translation  of  the  Bible  into  English  by  an 


404  A   BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

American  scholar.  Charles  Thomson  had  been  a 
tutor,  1750-55,  in  the  College  of  Philadelphia,  after- 
wards the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  from  which  he 
received  the  degree  A.  M.  From  1775-83  he  was  the 
able  Secretary  of  the  Continental  Congress.  Concern- 
ing his  version  of  the  New  Testament  it  is  interesting 
to  know  that  the  American  Revision  Committee 
referred  to  it  several  times,  and  always  with  great  re- 
spect.   Of  the  whole  work  Mr.  A.  J.  Edmunds  wrote: — 

** Neither  Roman  nor  Genevan,  neither  High  Church  nor 
Low,  of  no  sect  and  of  no  prejudice,  whether  of  unbelief  or 
of  overbelief,  this  American  patriot  of  the  Continen- 
tal Congress,  who  lived  to  be  ninety-four  and  spent 
a  glorious  old  age  in  his  home  near  Bryn  Mawr,  translating 
the  records  of  our  faith,  ought  to  stand  among  us  once  more 
in  the  form  of  a  newer  and  more  accessible  edition  of  his 
great  work,  *The  Old  and  New  Covenants.'"  ^ 

Of  Bibles  in  America  the  first  printed  was  the  Indian 
Bible,  translated  by  John  Eliot,  and  issued,  the  New 
Testament,  1661,  and  the  Old  and  the  New  Testaments, 
in  1663,  in  Cambridge.  The  first  book  printed  in 
America  was  The  Bay  Psalm  Book,  1640,  with  the 
title: — 

"The  whole  Booke  of  Psalmes,  Faithfully  Translated  into 
English  Metre." 

This  was  the  work  of  Richard  Mather,  Thomas 
Welde  and  John  Eliot. 

The  first  English  Bible  printed  in  America  was  what 
is  known,  from  the  name  of  its  publisher,  as  the  "Ait- 
ken  Bible,"  which  bore  the  following  title  pages : — 

*A.  J.  Edmunds,  "Charles  Thomson's  New  Testament,"  in  Tht  Penw 
syhania  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography,  vol.  15,  189 1,  p.  335. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    161I-I881  405 

"The  Holy  Bible,  Containing  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments: Newly  translated  out  of  the  Original  Tongues;  And 
with  the  former  Translations  Diligently  compared  and  re- 
vised. Philadelphia:  Printed  and  Sold  by  R.  Aitken,  at 
Pope's  Head,  Three  Doors  above  the  Coffee  House,  in 
Market  Street,    m.dcc.lxxxii. 

"The  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ;  Newly  Translated  out  of  the  Original  Greek;  And 
with  the  former  Translations  Diligently  compared  and  re- 
vised. Philadelphia:  Printed  and  Sold  by  R.  Aitken, 
Bookseller,    Opposite     the    Coffee-House,    Front     Street. 

M.DCC.LXXXI." 


Earlier  than  the  complete  Bible  were  three  editions 
of  the  New  Testament  printed  by  Aitken  in  1777,  1778 
and  1779  respectively,  with  a  fourth  in  178 1,  which  was 
bound  with  the  Old  Testament  of  1782.  The  third 
edition,  that  of  1779,  was  for  the  use  of  schools.  The 
first  edition  bore  the  title-page: — 

"The  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ;  Newly  Translated  out  of  the  Original  Greek;  And 
with  the  former  Translations  Diligently  compared  and  re- 
vised. Appointed  to  be  read  in  Churches.  Philadelphia: 
Printed  and  sold  by  R.  Aitken,  Printer  and  Bookseller, 
Front  Street.    1777.    Spectamur  agendo." 

The  words  "Appointed  to  be  read  in  Churches"  do 
not  appear  on  the  title-pages  in  the  complete  Bible. 

Cotton  Mather,  as  a  result  of  fifteen  years'  labor,  pre- 
pared an  annotated  Bible,  which  he  announced  in  17 10. 
His  efforts  to  have  it  printed  were  unsuccessful,  and 
the  manuscript  is  now  the  property  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Historical  Society.  A  second  effort  to  print  an 
English  Bible  in  America,  was  made,  like  Mather's,  in 


406  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

Boston,  in  1770  by  John  Fleming.  This  too  was  un- 
successful. 

The  break  with  Great  Britain  prevented  the  im- 
portation of  Bibles,  and  so  important  was  this  that  the 
Reverend  Dr.  Patrick  Alison,  Chaplain  of  Congress, 
joined  with  others  in  memorializing  Congress,  calling 
attention  to  the  lack  of  suitable  types  and  paper  for 
printing  the  Bible  in  America,  and  asking  that  the  sum 
of  £10272, 1  OS.,  be  advanced  to  pay  for  importing  them, 
or  that  Congress  order  the  importation  of  20,000  Bibles 
from  Holland,  Scotland  or  elsewhere.  The  latter  sugges- 
tion prevailed.  The  minute,  in  the  Journal  of  Congress 
for  1777-78,  in  which  this  information  is  given,  states 
further,  that  "New  Hampshire,  Massachusetts,  Rhode 
Island,  Connecticut,  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania  and 
Georgia  voted  in  the  affirmative,  and  New  York,  Del- 
aware, Maryland,  Virginia,  North  Carolina  and  South 
Carolina  in  the  negative." 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Robert  Aitken  of  Philadelphia 
proceeded,  in  spite  of  the  apparent  lack  of  suitable  type 
and  paper,  to  put  forth  his  New  Testament  of  1777,  and 
a  little  later,  1782,  his  complete  Bible,  the  paper  for 
which  was  made  in  Pennsylvania. 

The  Aitken  Bible  has  the  distinction  not  only  of  be- 
ing the  first  English  Bible  printed  in  America,^  but 
also  of  having  been  produced  under  such  conditions  as 
called  forth  concerning  it  the  following  expressions, 
the  first  a  Resolution  of  Congress  September  12,  1782: — 

** Resolved,  That  the  United  States  in  Congress  assembled, 
highly  approve  the  pious  and  laudable  undertaking  of  Mr. 

^  The  statement  is  made  that  in  1752  there  was  printed  in  America  sur^ 
reptitiously  an  English  Bible  bearing  a  false  imprint,  *'Mark  Baskett,  Lon- 
don." See  article  "Versions"  (English),  by  J.  H.  Lupton,  in  the  Extra 
Volume  of  Hastings'  Dictionary  of  the  BibU.     P.  257. 


THE   ENGLISH    VERSIONS    161I-1881  407 

Aitken,  as  subservient  to  the  interest  of  religion  as  well  as 
the  progress  of  the  arts  in  this  country,  and  being  satisfied 
from  the  above  report,*  of  his  care  and  accuracy  in  the 
execution  of  the  work,  they  recommend  this  edition  of  the 
Bible  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  United  States,  and  hereby 
authorize  him  to  publish  this  recommendation  in  the  manner 
he  shall  think  proper." 

The  second  expression,  which  we  shall  quote,  is  from 
a  contributor  to  the  Freeman's  Journal^  November  26, 
1782:— 

"I  can  hardly  express  the  feelings  I  experienced  when  I 
found  that  a  complete  edition  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  in  our 
vernacular  tongue,  has  been  printed  among  us.  The  circum- 
stances attending  this  arduous  task  are  so  extraordinary 
that  the  faithful  historian  cannot  fail  to  rank  it,  both  in  its 
design  and  execution,  amongst  the  most  remarkable  civil 
events  of  the  present  Revolution.  What  may  we  not  ex- 
pect from  the  abilities  of  this  country  in  respect  to  literary 
undertakings,  when  we  consider  that  this  design  has  been 
executed  in  the  midst,  as  it  were,  of  conflagration,  murder, 
brutality,  and  a  general  destruction  of  the  works  of  nature 
and  art?" 

"This  edition  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  is  the  only  one  that 
was  ever  undertaken  in  America  at  the  expense  of  an  in- 
dividual, unless  we  except  the  German  Bible,  printed  some 
years  ago  by  Mr.  Sower,  at  a  time  when  this  country  en- 
joyed a  profound  peace.  As  to  Mr.  Eliot's  'Indian  Bible,* 
printed  many  years  ago  in  New  England,  it  is  well  known 
that  the  whole  expense  was  borne  by  the  corporation  for 
promoting  the  Gospel  in  New  England.  How  greatly  then 
are  the  public  indebted  to  Mr.  Aitken,  who,  at  the  most 
imminent  risque  of  his  private  fortune,  with  very  little  sup- 

1 A  report  to  Congress  made  by  Messrs.  Duane,  McKean  and  Wither- 
spoon,  who  consulted  with  the  Reverend  William  White  and  the  Reverend 
George  Duffield,  Chaplains  of  Congress.  See  The  Journals  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress,  Washington  19 14,  vol.  xxxiii,  pp.  572-74. 


408  A   BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

port  and  patronage,  and  actuated  by  a  generous  zeal  for  the 
advancement  of  the  moral  interests  of  mankind,  engaged 
solely  in  this  very  expensive  and  laborious  task.  What 
discouraging  prospects  for  the  completion  of  his  work  must 
the  editor  have  had  from  time  to  time  in  the  course  of  this 
cruel  and  desolating  war?" 

Philadelphia  has  played  an  important  part  in  the 
history  of  the  Bible  in  America.  The  first  Bible  printed 
in  America,  except  Eliot's  Indian  Bible,  1661-63,  was 
the  German  Bible  printed  in  Germantown  by  Chris- 
topher Saur  in  1743.  The  first  American  edition  of  the 
Rheims-Douay  Bible  was  printed  in  Philadelphia  and 
bore  the  following  title: — 

"The  Holy  Bible,  Translated  from  the  Latin  Vulgate: 
diligently  compared  with  the  Hebrew,  Greek,  and  other 
Editions,  in  divers  Languages;  and  First  Published  by  the 
English  College  at  Doway,  Anno,  1609.  Newly  revised, 
and  corrected,  according  to  the  Clementine  Edition  of  the 
Scriptures.  With  Annotations  for  Elucidating  the  Principal 
Difficulties  of  Holy  Writ.  Haurietis  aquas  in  gaudio  de 
fontihus  Salvatoris.  Isaiae  xii.3.  Philadelphia:  Printed  and 
Sold  by  Carey,  Stewart,  and  Co.,  mdccxc." 

This  was  the  first  American  quarto  Bible,  a  fact  re- 
garded as  worthy  of  note  by  James  Mease,  M.  D.,  who 
in  his  Picture  of  Philadelphia^  1811,  p.  86,  says: — 
"The  Quarto  Bible,  set  up  by  Mathew  Carey,  in  Phila- 
delphia was  the  first  standing  Bible,  of  that  size,  in 
the  world,  and  is  even  now  the  only  one  of  separate 
types.  These  were  cast  by  Binney  and  Ronaldson,  of 
Philadelphia." 

The  first  American  edition  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
had  this  title: — 

"  Biblia   Hebraica,   Secundum   Ultimam    Editionem   Jos. 


THE    ENGLISH    VERSIONS    161I-1881  409 

Athiae,  a  Johanne  Leusden,  denuo  recognitam,  Recensita 
variisque  notis  Latinis  Illustrata  ab  Everardo  Van  der 
Hooght,  V.  D.  M.  Editio  Prima  Americana,  sine  puncris 
Masorethicis.  Philadelphiae:  cura  et  impensis  Thomae 
Dobson,  Edita  ex  Aedibus  Lapideis.     Typis  Gulielmi  Fry. 

MDCCCXIV." 

The  New  Testament  in  Greek  was  first  printed  in 
America  at  Worcester,  with  this  title: — 

H  KAINH  AIAOHKH.  Novum  Testamentum.  Juxta 
Examplar  Joannis  Millii  accuratissime  impressum.  Editio 
Prima  Americana,  Wigomiae,  Massachusettensi:  Excudebat 
Isaias  Thomas,  Jun.  Singulatim  et  numerose  eo  vendita 
officinae  suae.    April,  1800. 

The  first  translation  of  the  "Scriptures"  into  English 
by  a  Jewish  scholar  in  America  was  that  of  Isaac  Leeser 
of  Philadelphia  in  1853,  and  the  first  English  version 
prepared  by  a  group  of  Jewish  scholars  is  that  of  the 
Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America,  Philadelphia, 
1917.  One  of  the  most  important  and  widely  used 
revisions  of  the  Rheims-Douay  Version  was  that  of 
Archbishop  Kenrick  of  Philadelphia,  1851-62.^ 

*  Reliable  information  about  American  editions  will  be  found  in  Early 
Bibles  in  America  by  Rev.  John  Wright,  3d.  ed.  New  York,  1894. 


CHAPTER  XXI 

MODERN  REVISIONS  OF  THE  ENGLISH  BIBLE  1881-1917 

Probably  the  most  Important  addition  to  the  ver- 
sions of  the  New  Testament  prior  to  the  Revised  Ver- 
sion of  1 88 1  was  that  of  Dean  Alford,  1862  (second 
edition  1867).  This  great  work  had  been  preceded  by 
a  revision  of  the  Gospel  of  St.  John,  by  Five  Clergymen, 
1857,  ^^^  ^  revision  of  the  Pauline  Epistles  by  the  same 
scholars,  who  were  Dean  Alford,  Dr.  Barrow,  Dr. 
Ellicott,  Dr.  Moberly  and  Mr.  Humphrey.  This  was 
all  of  it  scholarly  revision  of  high  character.  The  second 
edition  of  Dean  Alford's  New  Testament  contains  the 
following  note,  which  is  indicative  of  what  had  occurred 
in  the  domain  of  textual  criticism  since  161 1: — 

"Since  the  First  Edition  was  published,  the  evidence  of 
the  recently-found  Sinaitic  Manuscript  has  been  added  to 
our  ancient  testimonies  regarding  the  Sacred  Text.  This 
has  occasioned  many  variations,  which  have  been  indicated 
in  the  margin  of  this  Edition,  so  as  to  make  it  comformable 
to  the  last  Edition  of  my  Greek  Testament.  The  notes, 
except  where  such  variations  necessitated  a  change,  remain 
as  before." 

Owing  to  the  wonderful  care  of  the  text  by  the 
Massorites  the  variations  in  the  Old  Testament  Hebrew 
are  few.  The  assemblies  of  the  Jewish  Rabbis  at 
Jamnia,  about  90  a.  d.,  and  118  a.  d.,  after  the  de- 
struction of  Jerusalem,  70  a.  d.,  by  the  Romans,  fixed 
the  Jewish  canon  and  also  the  text,  which  was  however 

410 


MODERN  REVISIONS  OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE   1881-I917      4II 

revised  under  the  Sopherim  and  later  under  the  Mas- 
sorites.  No  suph  care  seems  to  have  been  exercised  in 
the  early  Church  in  regard  to  the  text  of  what  was -to 
become  the  New  Testament,  hence  variations  in  the 
ancient  manuscripts  are  not  only  numerous,  but 
they  affect  the  inclusion,  or  omission,  of  whole  passages. 
It  was  the  results  of  textual  criticism,  and  not  merely 
the  fact  that  its  diction  was  antiquated,  and  some  of 
its  translations  not  so  exact  as  could  be  desired,  that 
led  to  the  demand  for  a  revision  of  the  English  Bible. 
The  Codex  Sinaiticus  was  discovered,  1844-59,  by 
Tischendorf,  as  were  other  manuscripts,  so  that  it  has 
been  said  of  him  and  of  his  labors  that  he  did  more  for 
the  Bible  in  Greek  than  any  scholar  since  Origen.^  He 
devoted  his  life  to  the  Greek  Bible,  and  published  his 
New  Testament  in  1840,  and  Old  Testament  in  1850. 
There  were  later  editions  of  each.  Tregelles,  during 
thirty-five  years,  1844-79,  ^^^  writing  works  on  the 
Greek  Testament,  his  edition,  1857-72,  ranking,  with 
that  of  Tischendorf,  among  the  great  contributions 
to  our  knowledge  of  the  text.  Before  this,  Lachmann 
had  in  1831  published  a  text  of  the  Greek  Testament 
in  which,  says  Dr.  Hort,  "for  the  first  time  a  text  was 
construed  directly  from  the  ancient  documents  with- 
out the  intervention  of  any  printed  edition."  ^  The 
most  important  modern  work  on  the  Greek  text  of  the 
New  Testament  is  that  of  Dr.  B.  F.  Westcott  and  Dr. 
F.  J.  A.  Hort,  1882.  Increased  knowledge  of  history  and 
archaeology  made  possible  the  clearer  interpretation  of 
the  ancient  writings,  while  increased  knowledge  of  the 
ancient  languages  made  more  accurate  translation  pos- 

1  See  C.  A.  Briggs,  The  Study  of  Holy  Scripture,  pp.  206-09. 

2  B.  F.  Westcott  and  F.  J.  A.  Hort,  The  New  Testament  in  the  Original 
Greek,  London,  1882,  vol.  2,  p.  23. 


412  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

sible.  The  changes  in  the  text  which  one  finds  on  com- 
paring the  King  James  with  the  Revised  Version  were 
not  made  by  the  translators.  They  had  already  been 
made  by  the  textual  critics. 

Many  Bible  manuscripts  unknown  to  the  translators 
of  1611  had  come  to  light  since  then,  including  some  of 
the  most  ancient.  The  Codex  of  Beza,  while  known  to 
the  King  James  translators,  seems  to  have  been  prac- 
tically ignored,  and  almost  no  scientific  textual  criti- 
cism had  been  undertaken  for  the  determination  of  the 
text  when  the  King  James  Version  of  the  Bible  was 
put  forth,  destined  to  be  for  three  centuries  the  Bible 
of  English-speaking  people.  The  arrival  in  England 
in  1628  of  the  Codex  Alexandrinus  caused  a  few  changes 
in  the  text  of  an  English  edition  of  1629.  The  consid- 
eration of  these  facts  led  to  action  by  the  Convocation 
of  Canterbury  on  a  suggestion,  made  as  early  as  1856, 
by  Professor  W.  Selwyn,  and  repeated  by  Bishops 
Wilberforce,  EUicott  and  OUivant  in  1870,  that  a  revi- 
sion of  the  English  Bible  be  made.  A  committee  was 
appointed,  consisting  of  eight  members  from  each  house 
of  Convocation  with  authority  "to  invite  the  coopera- 
tion of  any  eminent  for  scholarship,  to  whatever  na- 
tion or  religious  body  they  may  belong."  American 
scholars  from  nine  protestant  denominations  formed 
a  committee  in  1871  to  work  with  the  English  com- 
mittee. 


THE    ANGLO-AMERICAN    REVISION 

In  1 88 1  appeared  the  Revised  New  Testament,  in 
1885  the  Revised  Version  of  the  Bible,  and  in  1894  the 
Revised  Version  of  the  Apocrypha.  The  new  version 
bore  the  following  titles: — 


MODERN  REVISIONS  OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE    188I-I917      413 

"The  New  Testament  of  our  Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus 
Christ  Translated  out  of  the  Greek:  being  the  Version  set 
forth  A.  D.  1611.  Compared  with  the  most  ancient  Author- 
ities and  Revised  a.  d.  1881.  Printed  for  the  Universities 
of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Oxford,  at  the  University  Press, 
1881." 

"The  Holy  Bible  Containing  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. Translated  out  of  the  Original  Tongues,  Being  the 
Version  set  forth  a.  d.  1611.  Compared  with  the  most 
ancient  Authorities  and  Revised.  Printed  for  the  Univer- 
sities of  Oxford  and  Cambridge.  Oxford,  at  the  University 
Press,  1885." 

"The  Apocrypha,  Translated  out  of  the  Greek  and  Latin 
tongues;  being  the  Version  set  forth  a.  d.  1611,  Compared 
with  the  most  ancient  Authorities  and  Revised  a.  d.  1894. 
Oxford,  at  the  University  Press,  1894." 

By  agreement,  the  changes  suggested  by  the  American 
revisers,  but  not  accepted  by  the  English  Committee, 
were  printed  as  an  appendix  which  was  to  appear  in 
every  copy  of  the  revised  Bible  for  fourteen  years, 
during  which  the  American  Committee  agreed  not  to 
sanction  any  edition  not  printed  by  the  University 
presses  of  England.  In  1885  the  English  Committee 
disbanded,  but  the  American  continued  in  existence, 
and  in  1901,  published:— 

"The  Holy  Bible,  containing  the  Old  and  New  Testa- 
ments. Translated  out  of  the  Original  Tongues,  Being  the 
version  set  forth  a.  d.  1611.  Compared  with  the  most  ancient 
Authorities  and  Revised  a.  d.  i  881-1885  Newly  Edited  by 
the  American  Revision  Committee,  a.  d.  1901,  Standard 
Edition.    New  York,  Thomas  Nelson  &  Sons." 

That  additions  to  our  knowledge  and  changes  in  our 
language  will  be  made  in  the  future  as  they  have  been 


414  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

in  the  past  is  probable,  so  that  future  revisions  of  the 
English  version  may  be  as  necessary  or  as  desirable  as 
was  the  Anglo-American  revision  of  1881-1901.  The 
disappearance  and  discovery  of  books  occurred,  as  we 
are  told  in  the  Old  Testament,  even  with  the  Book  of 
the  Law: — 

"And  Hilkiah  the  high  priest  said  unto  Shaphan  the 
scribe,  I  have  found  the  book  of  the  law  in  the  house  of  the 
Lord."    II  Kings  22:8. 

An  instance  of  the  loss  of  an  important  book  of  the 
Church  occurred  in  much  more  recent  times.  This 
was  the  engrossed  copy  of  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer 
appended  to  the  Act  of  Uniformity  1660,  which  became 
detached  and  was  missing  until  1867  when  it  was 
discovered  in  the  House  of  Lords.  With  it  was  found 
the  printed  Prayer  Book  of  1636,  containing  the  manu- 
script alterations,  that  being  the  original  copy  of  the 
Book  of  1661,  and  the  original  of  the  Parliamentary 
Transcript,  from  which  was  printed  the  Sealed  Book 
of  1662.  The  existence  of  this  document  was  not 
known  until  1867. 

There  are  gaps  in  our  knowledge  of  early  Christian 
literature,  which  may  be  filled  through  discoveries  as 
remarkable  as  that  of  the  Codex  Sinaiticus  discovered 
in  1859,  or  the  "Sayings  of  Jesus"  discovered  on  the 
Nile  in  1896-97  and  1904.  Such  discoveries  as  those  of 
Sir  William  M.  Ramsay  in  Asia  Minor  throw  light  on 
the  meaning  of  the  terms  used  by  Paul  in  his  Epistles, 
and  on  historical  statements,  such  as  that  of  Luke 
2:2  concerning  Quirinius,  Governor  of  Syria,  and  thus 
on  the  date  of  the  birth  of  Jesus. 

As  was  the  case  with  the  Bishops'  Bible,  and  the 
King  James  Version,  certain  rules  for  the  guidance  of 


MODERN  REVISIONS  OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE    1881-I917      415 

the  translators  of  the  modern  Revised  Version,  were 
laid  down  in  advance  by  the  Convocation  of  Canter- 
bury.    These  rules  were: — 

"i.  To  introduce  as  few  alterations  as  possible  into  the 
Text  of  the  Authorized  Version,  consistently  with  faith- 
fulness." 

"2.  To  limit,  as  far  as  possible,  the  expression  of  such 
alterations  to  the  language  of  the  Authorized  and  earlier 
English  Versions." 

"3.  Each  Company  to  go  twice  over  the  portion  to  be  re- 
vised, once  provisionally,  the  second  time  finally,  and  on 
principles  of  voting  as  hereinafter  is  provided." 

"4.  That  the  Text  to  be  adopted  be  that  for  which  the 
evidence  is  decidedly  preponderating;  and  that  when  the 
Text  so  adopted  differs  from  that  from  which  the  Authorized 
Version  was  made,  the  alteration  be  indicated  in  the  margin." 

"5.  To  make  or  retain  no  change  in  the  Text  on  the  second 
final  revision  by  each  Company,  except  two-thirds  of  those 
present  approve  of  the  same,  but  on  the  first  revision  to  de- 
cide by  simple  majorities." 

"6.  In  every  case  of  proposed  alteration  that  may  have 
given  rise  to  discussion,  to  defer  the  voting  thereupon  till 
the  next  Meeting,  whensoever  the  same  shall  be  required 
by  one  third  of  those  present  at  the  Meeting,  such  intended 
vote  to  be  announced  in  the  notice  for  the  next  Meeting." 

"7.  To  revise  the  headings  of  chapters  and  pages,  par- 
agraphs, italics,  and  punctuation." 

"8.  To  refer,  on  the  part  of  each  Company,  when  consid- 
ered desirable,  to  Divines,  Scholars,  and  Literary  Men, 
whether  at  home  or  abroad,  for  their  opinions." 

There  were  two  Companies  of  translators,  one  for 
the  Old  Testament,  the  other  for  the  New. 

Textual  criticism  based  on  the  earliest  manuscripts 
resulted  in  many  changes  in  the  text  of  the  Bible  as  it 
appears    in    the    Revised   Version.      Just   what   these 


4l6  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

changes  are,  is  indicated  in  the  margin  in  accordance 
with  the  rules  laid  down  by  the  Convocation.  In  the 
New  Testament  sixteen  entire  verses  and  one  hundred 
and  twenty-two  sentences  or  parts  of  sentences  are 
omitted,  while  ten  new  clauses  are  inserted.  In  the 
Old  Testament  the  differences  are  chiefly  in  translation, 
only  a  few  being  in  the  text,  because  there  was  a  "re- 
ceived text"  due  to  the  care  of  the  Massorites. 

The  changes  made  in  the  English  version  by  the 
Revisers  fall  under  several  heads,  the  most  important 
being: — 

1.  Changes  due  to  differences  in  the  original  texts. 

2.  Changes  due  to  greater  accuracy  of  translation. 

3.  Changes  due  to  greater  clearness  of  translation. 

An  example  of  omission,  is  the  ascription  at  the 
close  of  the  Lord's  Prayer,  Matthew  6:13,  with  the 
note  "Many  authorities,  some  ancient,  but  with  vari- 
ations, add  *For  thine  is  the  kingdom,  and  the  power, 
and  the  glory,  forever.  Amen.'"  The  Vulgate,  and 
translations  of  the  Vulgate,  have  always  omitted  this 
ascription.  Other  omissions  are  Matthew  20:16,  "for 
many  be  called,  but  few  chosen";  and  I  John  5:7, 
"For  there  are  three  that  bear  record  in  heaven,  the 
Father,  the  Word,  and  the  Holy  Ghost:  and  these  three 
are  one."  Mark  16:9-20  is  now  separated  by  spacing 
in  the  Revised  Version,  because  it  does  not  appear  at 
all  in  the  "two  oldest  Greek  manuscripts  and  some 
other  authorities  omit  from  verse  9  to  the  end.  Some 
other  authorities  have  a  different  ending  to  the  Gospel." 
John  7:53-8:11,  is  printed  in  brackets  with  the  note 
"Most  of  the  ancient  authorities  omit  John  7:53-8:11. 
Those  which  contain  it  vary  much  from  each  other." 
A  passage  from  the  Old  Testament  in  which  are  textual 


MODERN  REVISIONS   OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE   1881-I917      417 

uncertainties  is  Genesis  6:3,  which  reads  practically  the 
same  in  the  King  James  and  Revised  Versions: — "My 
spirit  shall  not  strive  with  man  for  ever,  for  that  he 
also  is  flesh."  In  the  Revised  Version,  however,  are  the 
notes  "Or  rule  in,  or  according  to  many  ancient  ver- 
sions abide  in^  "Or  in  their  going  astray  they  are 
fleshr 

Examples  of  more  accurate  translation,  are  I  Tim- 
othy 6:10,  where  the  King  James  reads  "For  the 
love  of  money  is  the  root  of  all  evil."  In  the  Revised 
this  appears: — "For  the  love  of  money  is  a  root  of  all 
kinds  of  evil."  In  Acts  17:22,  the  King  James  reads: 
"y^  men  of  Athens,  I  perceive  that  in  all  things  ye 
are  too  superstitious."  The  Revised  has  "Ye  men  of 
Athens,  in  all  things  I  perceive  that  ye  are  somewhat 
superstitious,"  with  marginal  note  "or  religious J^ 

In  Proverbs  18:24,  the  King  James  reads: — "A  man 
that  hath  friends  must  shew  himself  friendly."  The 
Revised  reads  "He  that  maketh  many  friends  doeth 
it  to  his  own  destruction." 

Examples  of  greater  clearness  of  translation,  as 
the  result  of  using  modern  words  for  those  that  have 
become  obsolete,  or  have  changed  meaning,  are  found 
in  such  passages  as  Leviticus  10:12,  where  "meat 
offering"  has  been  changed  to  "meal  offering"  since 
"meat"  is  now  understood  to  refer  exclusively  to  flesh. 
Such  words  as  "let"  in  II  Thessalonians  2:7  and  "pre- 
vent" in  Matthew  17:25  are  now  obsolete  and  are 
changed  to  their  modern  equivalents,  and  such  a  pas- 
sage as  II  Corinthians  8:1  "We  do  you  to  wit"  is  now 
given  "We  make  known  to  you." 

The  English  and  the  American  revisers  differed  on 
some  questions,  such  as  the  use  of  "  Jehovah  "  wher- 
ever that  name  occurred  in  Hebrew.     The  English  com- 


41 8  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

mittee  adhered  to  the  usage  of  the  King  James  Version, 
except  in  a  few  passages,  where  a  proper  name  was] 
required.  The  American  revisers  were  of  the  opinioni 
that  the  proper  name,  "  Jehovah,"  should  be  used  in 
the  English  wherever  it  occurred  in  Hebrew.  Similar 
difference  of  opinion  existed  concerning  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Hebrew  word  "Sheol"  by  "the  grave," 
"the  pit"  and  "hell."  The  American  Version  leaves 
the  word  untranslated  while  the  English  uses  "Sheol" 
in  only  twenty-nine  of  the  sixty-four  places  in  which 
it  occurs. 

Concerning  the  verbal  changes  made  in  the  Revised 
Versions  there  are  differences  of  opinion,  many  persons 
believing  that  in  numerous  passages  the  changes  are 
not  in  the  nature  of  improvements,  and  that,  in  some 
cases,  the  King  James  reading,  on  account  of  the 
rhythm  of  its  English,  as  in  Psalm  136:1,  is  preferable. 
The  Revised  Version  keeps  the  King  James  rendering: — 

"O  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord;  for  he  is  good: 
For  his  mercy  endureth  forever." 

The  American  Revised  Version  reads : — 

"O  give  thanks  unto  Jehovah;  for  he  is  good; 
For  his  lovingkindness  endureth  for  ever." 

There  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion,  however,  as  to 
the  desirability  of  translating  books  of  the  Bible  with 
due  recognition  of  their  literary  unity,  or  of  the  unity 
of  their  constituent  parts.  This  requires  the  disre- 
garding of  the  chapter  and  verse  divisions,  which, 
while  useful  for  purposes  of  reference,  have  done  much 
to  interfere  with  the  appreciation  of  the  literary  beauty. 
Early  in  the  19th  century  the  King's  printer,  Reeves, 


MODERN   REVISIONS   OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE    1881-I917      419 

printed  a  number  of  Issues  of  the  English  Bible,  ar- 
ranged in  paragraphs,  with  the  chapter  and  verse 
divisions  set  in  the  margin.  Prior  to  the  Geneva  New 
Testament  the  text  was  printed  in  paragraphs.  In 
"  The  Holy  Bible  with  the  text  of  the  common  Trans- 
lation arranged  in  Paragraphs  etc,  by  James  Nourse, 
Boston  and  Philadelphia,  1834,"  mention  is  made  in 
the  preface,  pp.  i,  2,  of  the  disadvantages  resulting 
from  the  arbitrary  chapter  and  verse  divisions: — "It 
is  a  method  peculiar  to  the  Bible,  and  confined  to 
translations  [i.  e.  of  the  Bible]  alone.  Yet  the  word  of 
God  is  not  deserving  of  such  an  injurious  peculiarity 
as  this."  The  Revised  Versions  have  been  printed 
without  regard  to  chapters  and  verses,  but  these  are 
indicated  in  the  text,  or  in  the  margin,  in  such  a  way  as 
not  to  break  the  continuity  of  the  thought.  Each 
literary  unit  is  translated  as  a  whole,  instead  of  verse 
by  verse,  as  in  the  older  versions.  A  familiar  example 
of  the  gain  in  clearness  resulting  from  this  is  to  be 
found  in  Job,  ch.  28,  where  the  figure  of  the  mine  and 
the  miner  is  kept  clearly  in  view  throughout  the  poem. 
The  verses  of  that  chapter,  as  translated  in  the  King 
James  Version,  are,  in  some  instances,  almost  unintel- 
ligible. Another  feature  of  the  Revised  Versions,  which 
is  a  great  improvement,  is  the  mechanical  arrangement 
by  which  passages  in  verse-form  appear  so  to  the  eye, 
because  the  lines  are  so  printed.  A  comparison  of  the 
two  versions  of  Numbers  chs.  22-24,  or  Luke,  chs.  1-2, 
where  poetry  and  prose  are  mingled,  shows  how  neces- 
sary this  is,  if  literary  forms  are  to  be  indicated,  and 
how  helpful  it  is  to  the  reader.  The  same  is  true  of  the 
manner  in  which  Psalm  19,  for  example,  is  printed, 
with  a  space  dividing  two  quite  distinct  parts  of  the 
poem,  or  Psalms  42  and  43,  a  reading  of  which  to- 


420  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

gether  will  show  that  there  are  three  stanzas  of  one 
poem,  Psalm  42,  as  the  spacing  indicates,  being  made 
up  of  two  parts. 

A  question  to  which  there  seems  to  be  no  satisfactory- 
answer  is.  Why  did  the  Revisers,  both  English  and 
American,  fail  to  do  for  the  Prophets  what  they  did 
for  other  parts  of  the  Bible?  Although  the  Prophets 
consist  largely  of  poetry,  both  Revised  Versions, 
except  in  a  few  passages,  Isaiah,  ch.  38,  Jonah,  ch.  2 
and  Habakkuk,  ch.  3,  print  them  as  prose.  The 
Revised  Versions  likewise  fail  to  indicate  by  the 
letters  of  the  Hebrew  alphabet,  except  in  Psalm  119, 
where  it  was  done,  even  in  the  Wycliffite  Versions,  the 
fact  that  a  dozen  poems  in  the  Old  Testament  are 
Hebrew  Acrostics.  In  the  Cambridge  Paragraph  Bible, 
1873,  all  these  aids  in  the  way  of  arrangement  are 
given  to  the  reader. 


MODERN    ENGLISH   VERSIONS    SINCE    I9OI 

Space  will  not  permit  mention,  except  In  a  general 
way,  of  the  recent  versions,  chiefly  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment, which  are  the  work  of  individuals,  or  of  small 
groups  of  scholars,  and  which  have  as  their  purpose  the 
presentation  of  the  contents  of  the  Bible  in  the  ordinary 
speech  of  to-day.  In  some  instances  the  language  Is 
intentionally  colloquial,  and.  In  at  least  one,  "American" 
as  distinguished  from  "English."  Some  of  these 
"Modern  English"  versions^  are: — 

*  In  addition  to  versions  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments  in  which  the 
translation  is  the  important  consideration,  there  are  recent  editions  of  the 
Bible  consisting  of  the  books  edited  separately  by  a  single  scholar,  as  is  the 
case  with  The  Modern  Reader^ s  Bible ^  or  by  different  scholars  as  is  the  case 
with  Thf  Bible  for  Home  and  School,  The  Temple  Bible,  The  Century  Bible, 
and  others.    These  are  for  general  use.    To  these  must  be  added  the  numerous 


MODERN  REVISIONS   OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE    1881-I917      42I 

"  The  Holy  Bible  in  Modern  English,  by  Ferrar  Fenton, 
London,  1902." 

"  The  Twentieth  Century  New  Testament,  A  Translation 
into  Modem  English  made  from  the  original  Greek  (Westcott 
and  Hort's  Text)  by  a  company  of  about  twenty  scholars 
representing  the  various  sections  of  the  Christian  Church, 
New  York,  1904." 

"  The  New  Testament  in  Modern  Speech,  An  idiomatic  trans- 
lation into  everyday  English  from  the  text  of  the  Resultant 
Greek  Testament.  By  Richard  Francis  Weymouth,  M.  A., 
Litt.  D.  (London)  Fellow  of  University  College,  London, 
and  formerly  Headmaster  of  Mill  Hill  School,  Editor  of  The 
Resultant  Greek  Testament.    London,  1902." 

"  The  American  Bibley  The  Books  of  the  Bible  in  modem 
English  for  American  Readers,  by  Frank  Schell  Ballentine. 
Scranton,  Pa.,  1902." 

"  The  Corrected  English  New  Testament,  by  Samuel  Lloyd, 
London  and  New  York,  1904." 

"  The  Bible  in  Modern  English  or  The  Modern  English  Bible 
(New  Testament).  A  rendering  from  the  originals,  by  an 
American  making  use  of  the  best  scholarship  and  latest 
researches  at  home  and  abroad.  Perkiomen,  Pa.,  U.  S.  A., 
1909." 

Three  other  volumes  that  have  appeared  since  the 
American  Revision  of  1901  cannot,  on  account  of  their 
importance,  be  omitted  from  any  discussion  of  the 
English  Bible.  ^    They  are — 

"  The   New    Testament,   A   New  Translation    by   James 

commentaries  which  are  being  published  and  contain  the  results  of  modern 
scholarship. 

^  A  committee  of  the  Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem  (Swedenborgian)  has 
been  at  work  for  several  years  on  a  new  translation  of  the  Bible  on  the  basis 
of  that  made  by  Swedenborg  himself,  but  it  will  be  some  years  yet  before  it 
will  be  ready  for  publication.  The  English  branch  of  the  New  Church  has 
published  recently  a  translation  of  Genesis.  There  may  be  other  translations 
in  preparation,  of  which  no  announcement  has  come  to  the  knowledge  of  the 
author  of  this  volume. 


422  A   BOOK   ABOUT  THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

MofFatt,  D.  D.,  D.  Litt.,  Yates  Professor  of  New  Testament 
Greek  and  Exegesis,  Mansfield  College,  Oxford,  19 13." 

"  The  Holy  BibUy  an  Improved  Edition  based  in  part  on 
the  Bible  Union  version,  Philadelphia,  American  Baptist 
Publication  Society,  1912." 

"  The  Holy  Scriptures,  according  to  the  Masoretic  Text,  a 
New  Translation,  with  the  aid  of  previous  Versions  and  with 
constant  consultation  of  Jewish  Authorities.  Philadelphia. 
The  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America,  5677-1917." 

The  standing  of  Dr.  Moffatt  as  a  New  Testament 
scholar  is  so  high  that  any  work  of  his  commands 
attention.  His  version  is  modern,  and  even  colloquial 
in  places.  The  version  issued  by  the  Baptist  Publi- 
cation Society,  based  on  the  Bible  Union  version,  is 
the  work  of  a  number  of  scholars  each  of  whom  was  to 
be  "responsible  for  his  own  work  and  follow  his  own 
plan."  The  text  of  the  translation  is  therefore  not 
composite,  although  certain  general  principles  were 
agreed  upon.  The  language  is  modernized,  where  it  is 
thought  desirable,  and  poetry,  including  much  of  the 
Prophets,  is  printed  as  such,  thus  remedying  a  defect 
of  the  Revised  Versions,  to  which  attention  has  been 
called.  Words  not  in  the  original,  commonly  printed 
in  italics,  since  the  Geneva  Version,  are  reduced  in 
number  to  a  minimum  and  placed  in  brackets,  the 
customary  modern  way  of  indicating  insertions. 

It  is  not  generally  known  among  Gentiles  that  some 
important  translations  of  the  Old  Testament,  or  parts 
of  it,  into  English  have  been  made  by  Jewish  scholars. 
Such  translations  were  the  following:  The  Pentateuch, 
1789,  by  Isaac  Delgado,  Emendations  of  the  Authorized 
Version,  1839,  t>y  Selig  Newman,  The  Scriptures,  by  A. 
Benisch,  1851-56,  A  Version  of  the  Authorized  Version, 
by  Michael  Friedlander,  1884.    These  were  in  England. 


MODERN   REVISIONS   OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE   1881-I9I7      423 

"In  America,  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  where  the 
first  Hebrew  Bible  (1814)  was  printed  in  this  hemi- 
sphere, Isaac  Leeser  issued  in  1853  a  complete  version 
of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  in  English,  which  for  more 
than  half  a  century  has  held  its  place  in  American  and 
English  synagogues.  Leeser  based  himself  in  style 
upon  the  King  James  Version,  *  which  for  simplicity  can- 
not be  surpassed  ';  but  the  changes  introduced  by  him 
are  so  many  and  so  great  that  his  translation  may  lay 
claim  to  being  an  independent  work."  ^ 

There  remains  to  be  noticed  a  volume  of  deepest 
interest  to  all  students  of  the  Bible,  because  it  comes 
from  the  race  from  which  the  Bible  itself  comes.  It  is 
the  English  version  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  published 
in  1917  by  the  Jewish  Publication  Society  of  America. 
In  this  volume  appear,  in  the  order  and  groupings  in 
which  they  have  been  placed  by  the  Jews  since  long 
before  the  Christian  era,  "  the  Law,"  "  the  Prophets," 
and  "  the  Writings,"  the  three  collections  which  com- 
pose the  "Scriptures."  This  translation  was  projected 
by  the  Jewish  Publication  Society  in  1892  and  a  com- 
mittee appointed  to  make  it,  a  portion  of  the  text 
being  assigned  to  each  member,  whose  work  was  finally 
to  be  passed  upon  by  an  Editorial  Committee,  a  plan 
which  was  subsequently  modified.  We  cannot  do  better 
than  to  quote  here  some  paragraphs  from  the  Preface: — 

"The  present  translation  is  the  first  for  which  a  group  of 
men  representative  of  Jewish  learning  among  English- 
speaking  Jews  assume  joint  responsibility,  all  previous 
efforts  in  the  English  language  having  been  the  work  of 
individual  translators.  It  has  a  character  of  its  own.  It 
aims  to  combine  the  spirit  of  Jewish  tradition  with  the  re- 

^  Max  L.  Margolis,  The  Story  of  Bible  TranslationSy  Jewish  Publication 
Society  of  America,  Philadelphia,  1917,  pp.  93-94. 


424  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

suits  of  biblical  scholarship,  ancient,  mediaeval,  and  modem. 
It  gives  to  the  Jewish  world  a  translation  of  the  Scriptures 
done  by  men  imbued  with  the  Jewish  consciousness,  while 
the  non-Jewish  world,  it  is  hoped  will  welcome  a  translation 
that  presents  many  passages  from  the  Jewish  traditional 
point  of  view." 

"We  are,  it  is  hardly  needful  to  say,  deeply  grateful  for 
the  works  of  our  non-Jewish  predecessors,  such  as  the  Au- 
thorised Version  with  its  admirable  diction,  which  can  never 
be  surpassed,  as  well  as  for  the  Revised  Version  with  its 
ample  learning — but  they  are  not  ours.  The  Editors  have 
not  only  used  these  famous  English  versions,  but  they  have 
gone  back  to  the  earlier  translations  of  WyclifFe,  Tyndale, 
Coverdale,  the  Bishops'  Bible,  and  the  Douai  Version,  which 
is  the  authorized  English  translation  of  the  Vulgate  used  by 
the  Roman  Catholics;  in  a  word  upon  doubtful  points  in 
style,  all  English  versions  have  been  drawn  upon.  The 
renditions  of  parts  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  by  Lowth  and 
others  in  the  eighteenth  century  and  by  Cheyne  and  Driver 
in  our  own  days  were  likewise  consulted." 

With  the  New  Testament  the  Jewish  scholars  did 
not  concern  themselves,  and  the  Christian  understand- 
ing of  passages  in  the  Old  Testament  they  recognize 
as  being  in  most  instances  a  matter  of  interpretation, 
where  there  is  no  difference  of  opinion  concerning  the 
translation.  In  a  few  passages,  however,  there  are  im- 
portant differences,  which  can  best  be  indicated  by 
quoting  the  Jewish  translation  and  the  Revised  Ver- 
sions side  by  side: — 

"...  behold,  the  young  woman  shall  conceive,  and  bear 
a  son,  and  shall  call  his  name  Immanuel."  Isaiah  7:14, 
Jewish  Version. 

"...  behold  a  virgin  shall  conceive,  and  bear  a  son,  and 
shall  call  his  name  Immanuel." 

Margin  "or  maiden."    Isaiah  7:14,  Revised  Versions. 


MODERN  REVISIONS  OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE    1881-I917      425 

"...  And  they  shall  look  unto  Me  because  they  have 
thrust  him  through." 

Margin,  "that  is,  the  nations."  See  verse  9.  Zechariah 
12:10.    Jewish  Version. 

"...  and  they  shall  look  unto  nie  whom  they  have 
pierced." 

Margin  "according  to  some  Mss.  him,"  Zechariah  12:10. 
Revised  Versions. 

In  spite  of  differences  of  reading  or  of  translation 
the  questions  of  interpretation  are  the  most  important, 
the  ancient  text  delivering  a  message  and  men  differing 
as  to  what  the  message  means. 


EPILOGUE 

We  have,  in  rapid  survey,  outlined  the  history  of 
the  making  of  English  versions  of  the  Bible,  and  have 
shown  that  it  has  been  a  continuous  process.  We  have 
tried  to  tell  the  story,  as  far  as  possible,  by  quoting 
the  documents.  Little  has  been  said  of  the  respective 
merits  of  the  different  versions,  concerning  which  there 
will  always  be  wide  divergence  of  opinion  caused  by 
fundamental  differences  in  the  texts  from  which  the 
translations  have  been  made,  and  by  differences  in  the 
translations  where  there  is  no  difference  in  the  texts. 

An  attempt  has  been  made  to  indicate  in  connection 
with  each  of  the  great  translations,  an  answer  to  the 
question,  Why  was  it  made?  The  answer  has  been 
given  sometimes  by  implication,  rather  than  directly. 
This  method  may  be  continued  by  asking,  Why  will 
the  next  revision  be  made.^*  And  here  a  quotation 
from  a  source  which  represents  intelligent  opinion,  an 
editorial  note  in  the  London  Spectator,  October  5, 
191 2,  may  be  presented: — 


426  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"The  proposed  Revision  of  the  Bible  has  elicited  a  re- 
markable statement  from  a  number  of  leading  Nonconformist 
scholars.  .  .  .  Briefly  summarized,  their  view  is  that,  while 
Revision  may  be  necessary  in  ten  years,  it  would  be  pre- 
mature and  inadvisable  at  the  moment.  They  admit  that 
the  Revised  Version  of  1881-85  has  by  no  means  won  gen- 
eral acceptance,  though  rendering  great  service  in  correcting 
mistranslations  in  the  Old  and  making  conscientious  use  of 
all  available  research  in  the  New  Testament.  But  the 
accumulation  of  fresh  material  due  to  the  investigations  and 
discoveries  of  the  last  thirty  years  makes  it  impossible  to 
claim  that  a  final  text  of  the  New  Testament  is  sufficiently 
near  to  justify,  at  present,  a  fresh  attempt  at  revision,  and 
*  another  ten  years  at  least  seem  to  be  needed  for  the  sifting 
and  presentation  of  materials  and  the  formation  of  a  general 
scholarly  opinion  upon  them.'  If,  however,  the  plea  for 
delay  cannot  be  conceded  to  this  extent,  they  urge  that  in  no 
circumstances  should  a  revision  be  undertaken  of  an  inad- 
equate or  superficial  character." 

Wycliffe,  Tindale,  Coverdale,  these  v^ere  the  men 
who  were  responsible  for  the  English  of  the  Bible. 
Revisers  have  made  alterations  and  corrections,  but 
in  the  main  the  Bible  is  as  Coverdale  left  it,  the  New 
Testament  and  Pentateuch  being  chiefly  Tindale's. 
Compare  these  difl"erent  translations  of  the  opening 
verses  of  a  familiar  passage,  John,  ch.  14: — 

"Be  not  youre  herte  affraied:  ne  drede  it,  ye  bileven  in  god: 
and  bileve  ye  in  me,  in  the  hous  of  my  fadir,  ben  many 
dwellyngis,  if  ony  thing  lasse  I  hadde  seid  to  you,  for  I  go 
to  make  redi  to  you  a  place,  and  if  I  go  and  make  redi  to  you 
a  place,  eftsone  I  come  and  I  schal  take  you  to  my  silf,  that 
where  I  am:  ye  be,  and  whidir  I  go  ye  witen:  and  ye  witen 
the  wey."    WiclifFe,  1380. 

"Let  not  youre  hertes  be  troubled.  Beleve  in  god  and 
beleve  in  me.      In  my  fathers  housse  are  many  mansions. 


MODERN  REVISIONS   OF   ENGLISH   BIBLE   I881-I917      427 

If  it  were  not  so,  I  wolde  have  tolde  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you.  And  yf  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will 
come  agayne,  and  receave  you  even  unto  my  selfe,  that 
where  I  am,  there  maye  ye  be  also.  And  whither  I  go  ye 
knowe  and  the  waye  ye  knowe.''    Tindale,  1534. 

"Let  not  youre  herte  be  troubled.  Ye  believe  in  God, 
beleve  also  in  me.  In  my  fathers  house  are  many  mansions. 
If  it  were  not  so,  I  wolde  have  tolde  you.  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you.  And  yf  I  go  to  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I 
will  come  agayne,  and  receave  you  even  unto  my  selfe:  that 
where  I  am,  there  maye  ye  be  also.  And  whither  I  go,  ye 
knowe,  and  the  waye  ye  knowe."  Coverdale — Great  Bible, 
1539. 

"Let  not  your  hart  be  troubled.  You  beleeve  in  God, 
beleeve  in  me  also.  In  my  fathers  house  there  be  many 
mansions.  If  not,  I  would  have  told  you,  Because  I  goe  to 
prepare  you  a  place.  And  if  I  goe,  and  prepare  you  a  place: 
I  come  againe  and  will  take  you  to  my  self,  that  where  I  am, 
you  also  may  be.  And  whither  I  goe  you  know,  and  the 
way  you  know."    Rheims,  1582. 

"Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled:  yee  beleeve  in  God,  be- 
leeve also  in  me.  In  my  Fathers  house  are  many  mansions; 
if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you:  I  goe  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you.  And  if  I  goe  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I  will 
come  againe,  and  receive  you  unto  my  selfe,  that  where  I 
am,  there  ye  may  be  also.  And  whither  I  goe  yee  know, 
and  the  way  ye  know."    King  James,  1611. 

"Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled:  ye  believe  in  God,  be- 
lieve also  in  me.  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions; 
if  it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you;  for  I  go  to  prepare 
a  place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I 
come  again,  and  will  receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where  I 
am,  there  ye  may  be  also.  And  whither  I  go,  ye  know  the 
way."    Revised  Version,  1881. 


428  A    BOOK   ABOUT   THE    ENGLISH    BIBLE 

"Let  not  your  heart  be  troubled:  believe  in  God,  believe 
also  in  me.  In  my  Father's  house  are  many  mansions;  if 
it  were  not  so,  I  would  have  told  you;  for  I  go  to  prepare  a 
place  for  you.  And  if  I  go  and  prepare  a  place  for  you,  I 
come  again,  and  will  receive  you  unto  myself;  that  where  I 
am,  there  ye  may  be  also.  And  whither  I  go,  ye  know  the 
way."    American  Revision,  1901. 

The  English  Bible  now  accessible  in  many  versions 
is  the  result  of  scholarly  work  done  by  earnest  and 
devout  men  through  the  course  of  more  than  six  centur- 
ies. Each  successive  version  has  represented  progress  to- 
ward the  complete  expression  in  English  of  the  thoughts 
of  ancient  writers.  Itself  a  collection  of  what,  in 
many  cases,  are  composite  books,  the  Bible  now  ap- 
pears in  English  in  a  composite  translation.  To  the 
original,  as  to  the  translation,  there  were  many  contrib- 
utors in  many  different  centuries.  To  the  authors 
and  editors,  we  may  ascribe  the  single-hearted  purpose 
to  preserve  for  future  generations  the  record  of  the 
dealings  of  God  with  man.  To  the  translators,  we 
may  ascribe  the  single-hearted  purpose  to  make  acces- 
sible to  men  of  English  tongue  that  treasure-house  of 
wisdom  and  beauty  commonly  known  as  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  contained  in  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ments. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 

The  following  books  will  be  found  to  contain  fuller  in- 
formation on  the  various  topics  touched  upon  in  this  volume. 

Alford,  H. :  The  New  Testament  for  English  Readers,  2d  ed. 

Boston,  1872. 
Arber,  E. :  The  First  Printed  English  New  Testament.    Lon- 
don, 1 87 1. 
Ayres,  S.  G.,  and  Sitterly,  C.  F.:  The  History  of  the  English 

Bible.    New  York,  1898. 
Bagster  &  Sons:  The  English  Hexapla  of  the  New  Testament 

Scriptures.    London,  n.  d. 
Baroody,  A.  T.:  Our  Man  of  Patience.    Boston,  1915. 
Barry,  Alfred :  The  Parables  of  the  Old  Testament.    London, 

n.  d. 
Barton,  G.  A.:  Archaeology  and  The  Bible.     Philadelphia, 

1916. 
Barton,  G.  A. :  The  American  Journal  of  Theology.    Article 

"Material   Concerning  Creation  and    Paradise,"  Oct., 

191 7.    Chicago,  191 7. 
Barton,  G.  A.:  The  Religion  of  Israel.     New  York,  1918. 
Briggs,  C.  A. :  The  Study  of  Holy  Scripture.    New  York,  1 899. 
Brown,  J.:  The  History  of  the  English  Bible.     Cambridge, 

1911. 
Burton,  E.  D.:  The  Records  and  Letters  of  the  Apostolic 

Age.    New  York,  1895. 
Carleton,  J.  G. :  The  Part  of  Rheims  in  the  Making  of  the 

English  Bible.    London,  1892. 
Charles,  R.  H. :  The  Book  of  Enoch,  or  I  Enoch,  translated 

from  the  Editor's  Ethiopic  Text.    Oxford,  191 2. 
Charles,  R.  H. :  The  Apocrypha  and  Pseudepigrapha  of  the 

Old  Testament.    Edited  by  R.  H.  Charles,  2  vols.    Cam- 
bridge, 191 3. 

429 


430  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Cheyne,  T.  K. :  Job  and  Solomon  or  The  Wisdom  of  the  Old 
Testament.    London,  1887. 

Cheyne,  T.  K.:  The  Book  of  Psalms.  A  New  Translation 
with  Commentary.    New  York,  1888. 

Cheyne,  T.  K. :  The  Origin  and  Religious  Contents  of  the 
Psalter.    London,  1891. 

Cobb,  W.  H.:  A  Criticism  of  Systems  of  Hebrew  Metre. 
Oxford,  1905. 

Cobem,  C.  M. :  The  New  Archaeological  Discoveries  and  their 
bearing  on  the  New  Testament.    New  York,  191 7. 

Cook,  A.  S. :  Biblical  Quotations  in  Old  English  Prose  Writers. 
London,  1898. 

Cotton,  H. :  Rhemes  and  Doway,  an  attempt  to  show  what 
has  been  done  by  Roman  Catholics  for  the  diffusion  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures  in  English.    Oxford,  1855. 

Creelman,  H. :  An  Introduction  to  the  Old  Testament,  chrono- 
logically arranged.    New  York,  191 7. 

Darlow,  T.  H.,  and  Moule,  H.  T.:  Historical  Catalogue  of  the 
Printed  Editions  of  Holy  Scripture  in  the  Library  of  the 
British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  London,  1903. 

Deissman,  A.:  New  Light  on  the  New  Testament.  Edin- 
burgh, 1908. 

Driver,  S.  R.:  Modem  Research  as  Illustrating  the  Bible. 
The  Schweich  Lectures,  1908.    London,  1909. 

Driver,  S.  R. :  An  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  Old 
Testament.    New  York,  191 4. 

Eadie,  J. :  The  English  Bible — An  external  and  critical  history 
of  the  various  English  translations  of  Scripture  with 
remarks.    London,  1876. 

Edmunds,  A.  J. :  Penna.  Magazine  of  History  and  Biography, 
Vol.  XV,  p.  335,  Charles  Thomson's  "New  Testament.*' 
Philadelphia,  1891. 

Forshall,  J.,  and  Madden,  F. :  The  Holy  Bible,  containing  the 
Old  and  New  Testaments,  with  the  Apocryphal  Books 
in  the  earliest  English  Versions  made  from  the  Latin 
Vulgate  of  John  WyclifFe  and  his  followers.  Oxford, 
1850. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  43 1 

Fowler,  H.  T.:  History  of  the  Literature  of  Ancient  Israel. 
New  York,  191 2. 

Fowler,  H.  T. :  The  origin  and  growth  of  the  Hebrew  Religion. 
Chicago,  191 8. 

Gardiner,  J.  H.:  The  Bible  as  Literature.    New  York,  191 2. 

Genung,  J.  F.:  The  Epic  of  the  Inner  Life.    Boston,  1891. 

Ginsburg,  C.  D.:  The  Song  of  Songs.    London,  1857. 

Goodspeed,  E.  J. :  The  Story  of  the  New  Testament.  Chicago, 
1918. 

Gray,  G.  B. :  The  Forms  of  Hebrew  Poetry  considered  with 
special  reference  to  the  Criticism  and  Interpretation  of 
the  Old  Testament.    London,  191 5. 

Grenfell,  B.  P.,  and  Hunt,  A.  S.:  Sayings  of  Our  Lord,  1897; 
New  Sayings  of  Jesus  and  Fragment  of  a  Lost  Gospel 
from  Oxyrhynchus.    Oxford,  1908. 

Harris,  R.:  The  Apology  of  Aristides,  Haverford  College 
Studies,  Nos.  6  &  7.    Philadelphia,  1889. 

Harris,  R.,  Conybeare,  F.,  Lewis,  A.  S.:  The  Ahikar  Stories. 
London,  1898. 

Hoare,  H.  W. :  The  Evolution  of  the  English  Bible.  London, 
1902. 

Hunting,  H.  H.:  The  Story  of  Our  Bible.    New  York,  191 5. 

Issaverdens,  J. :  The  Uncanonical  Writings  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment found  in  the  Armenian  Manuscripts  of  the  Library 
of  St.  Lazarus.    Venice,  1901. 

Jebb,  J.:  Sacred  Literature.    London,  1820. 

Jewish  Pub.  Society  of  America:  The  Holy  Scriptures  ac- 
cording to  the  Masoretic  Text.  A  New  Translation, 
with  the  aid  of  previous  Versions  and  with  constant 
consultation  of  Jewish  authorities.    Philadelphia,  1917. 

Kallen,  H.  M. :  The  Book  of  Job  as  a  Greek  Tragedy,  restored, 
with  an  Introductory  Essay  on  the  Original  Form  and 
Philosophic  meaning  of  Job,  and  an  Introduction  by 
Professor  George  Foot  Moore  of  Harvard  University. 
New  York,  191 8. 

Kent,  C.  F.:  The  Origin  and  Permanent  Value  of  the  Old 
Testament.    New  York,  191 2. 


432  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Kenyon,  F.  G.:  Our  Bible  and  the  Ancient  Manuscripts, 
being  a  history  of  the  Text  and  its  Translations,  2d  ed. 
London,  1896. 

King,  E.  G.:  Early  Religious  Poetry  of  the  Hebrews.  Cam- 
bridge, 1911. 

Kirkpatrick,  A.  F.:  The  Psalms.  The  Cambridge  Bible  for 
Schools  and  Colleges.    Cambridge,  19 10. 

Knox,  T.  F. :  The  First  and  Second  Diaries  of  the  English 
College  at  Douay.    London,  1878. 

Lingard,  J. :  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Church.    London,  1845. 

Lovett,  R.:  The  Printed  English  Bible,  1525-1885.  London, 
1909. 

Lowth,  R. :  Lectures  on  The  Sacred  Poetry  of  the  Hebrews. 
Translated  from  the   Latin   by  G.  Gregory.     London, 

1847. 

Lowth,  R.:  Isaiah,  a  New  Translation,  with  a  Preliminary 
Dissertation,  and  notes  critical  and  explanatory.  14th 
ed.    London,  1848. 

Margolis,  M.  L.:  The  Story  of  Bible  Translations.  Phila- 
delphia, 1917. 

McGifFert,  A.  C. :  A  History  of  Christianity  in  the  Apostolic 
Age.    New  York,  1900. 

Milman,  H.  H.:  The  History  of  the  Jews.    New  York,  1871. 

MoflFatt,  J.:  Introduction  to  the  Literature  of  the  New 
Testament.    New  York,  19 14. 

MorfiU,  W.  R.,  and  Charies,  R.  H.:  The  Book  of  the  Secrets 
of  Enoch,  Translated  from  the  Slavonic  by  W.  R.  Mor- 
fiU, and  edited  by  R.  H.  Charles.    Oxford,  1896. 

Moulton,  R.  G. :  The  Literary  Study  of  the  Bible.  Boston, 
1900. 

Moulton,  R.  G.:  The  Modem  Reader's  Bible.  New  York, 
1907. 

Moulton,  W.  F. :  The  History  of  the  English  Bible.  London, 
3d  ed.,  1887. 

Oesterley,  W.  O.  E.:  The  Psalms  in  the  Jewish  Church, 
London,  19 10. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  433 

Peritz,  I.  J.:  Old  Testament  History.    New  York,  1915. 

Petrie,  F.:  Egyptian  Tales,  second  series.    London,  1895. 

Pollard,  A.  W. :  Records  of  the  English  Bible,  the  Documents 
relating  to  the  Translation  and  Publication  of  the  Bible 
in  English,  1 5  25-161 1.    Oxford,  191 1. 

Pollard,  A.  W. :  The  Holy  Bible,  an  exact  reprint  of  the  Au- 
thorized Version,  1611.    Oxford,  1911. 

Porter,  F.  C. :  The  Messages  of  the  Apocalyptical  Writers. 
New  York,  1905. 

Rail,  H.  F.:  New  Testament  History.    New  York,  1914. 

Rihbany,  A.  M.:  The  Syrian  Christ.    Boston,  1916. 

Sayce,  A.  H. :  The  Higher  Criticism  and  the  Verdict  of  the 
Monuments.    London,  1894. 

Scrivener,  F.  H.  A. :  The  Authorized  Edition  of  the  English 
Bible,  161 1.    Cambridge,  1884. 

Scrivener,  F.  H.:  The  Cambridge  Paragraph  Bible.  Cam- 
bridge, 1873. 

Skeat,  W.  W.:  The  Saxon  Gospels.    Cambridge,  1871-87. 

Smith,  G.  A. :  The  Early  Poetry  of  Israel  in  its  Physical  and 
Social  Origins.  The  Schweich  Lectures  1910.  London, 
1912. 

Smith,  W.  R. :  The  Old  Testament  and  the  Jewish  Church, 
2d  ed.    London,  1900. 

Smyth,  J.  P. :  The  Old  Documents  and  the  New  Bible.  New 
York,  1890. 

Smyth,  J.  P.:  How  we  got  our  Bible.    New  York,  1899. 

Smyth,  J.  P.:  The  Bible  in  the  Making.    New  York,  1914. 

Soden,  H.  von:  The  History  of  Early  Christian  Literature: 
The  Writings  of  the  New  Testament.  New  York, 
1906. 

Stanley,  A.  P.:  The  Jewish  Church.    New  York,  1890. 

Stanley,  A.  P.:  Biblia  Pauperum — Facsimile  reprint  with  In- 
troduction.   London,  1884. 

Stevens,  W.  A.,  and  Burton,  E.  D.:  A  Harmony  of  The  Gos- 
pels for  Historical  Study.    New  York,  1911. 

Storrs,  R.  S.:  John  WyclifFe  and  The  First  English  Bible. 
New  York,  1880. 


434  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Strahan,  J.:  The  Book  of  Job.    Edinburgh,  1914. 

Swete,  H.  B.:  The  Old  Testament  in  Greek.     Cambridge, 

1900. 
Thomson,   W.    M.:   The    Land    and    the    Book.     London, 

1889. 
Trench,  R.  C. :  Notes  on  the  Parables  of  Our  Lord.     New 

York,  1 861. 
Wells,  J.  E. :  A  Manual  of  the  Writings  in  Middle  English, 

1050-1400.    New  Haven,  1916. 
Westcott,  B.  P.:  A  General  Survey  of  the  History  of  the 

Canon  of  the  New  Testament.    London,  1889. 
Westcott,  B.  P.:  General  View  of  the  History  of  the  English 

Bible,  3d  ed.,  edited  by  W.  A.  Wright.    New  York  and 

London,  1905. 
Wild,  L.  H. :  Geographic  Influences  in  Old  Testament  Master- 
pieces.   Boston,  191 5. 
Wood,  L  P.,  and  Grant,  E.:  The  Bible  as  Literature.    New 

York,  1914. 
Wright,  J.:  Early  Bibles  of  America,  3d.  ed.     New  York, 

1894. 
Zahn,  T.:  Introduction  to  the  New  Testament,  translated 

from   the  third   German   Edition   by   various   scholars 

under  the  direction  of  M.  W.  Jacobus.    Edinburgh,  1909. 

Church  Pathers 

The  Ante-Nicene  Pathers.    Buffalo,  1886. 

The  Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Pathers.    New  York,  1892. 

Encyclopedias,  etc. 

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The  Schaff-Herzog  Encyclopedia  of  Religious  Knowledge. 

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BIBLIOGRAPHY  435 

Editions  of  the  Bible 

The  Cambridge  Bible  for  Schools  and  Colleges. 

The  Oxford  Bible  for  Schools. 

The  Bible  for  Home  and  School. 

The  New  Century  Bible. 

The  Temple  Bible. 

The  Expositor's  Bible. 

The  Modem  Reader's  Bible. 

Commentaries 

The  International  Critical  Commentary. 
The  Westminster  Commentary. 


INDEX 


Abraham,  22,  113,  281 

Acts  of  the  Apostles,  156,  299 

^Ifric,  326,  332 

^Ifric  Grammaticus,  333 

JEsop's  Fables,  269 

Agur,  Words  of,  222 

Ahab,  29,  283 

Ahikar,  Story  of,  51 

Aitken  Bible,  404,  408 

Aldhelm,  327 

Aid  red,  330 

Aldus,  346 

Alexander  the  Great,  3,  10,  13 

Alexandria,  3,  9,  10 

Alexandrians,  Epistle  to  the,  55 

Alford,  Henry,  63,  410 

Alfred,  33i>  332,  341 

Alison,  Patrick,  406 

Allen,  Cardinal,  377,  379,  385 

Ambrosian  Library,  14,  55 

American  Baptist  Publication  So- 
ciety, 213,  422 

American  Bible,  The,  421 

American  Bibles,  403,  4C9 

American  Revised  Version,  388,  389, 
413*418 

Amos,  4,  291 

Amraphel,  23 

Angels,  280,  311,  312 

Angel  of  Jehovah,  280 

Anglo-American  Revision,  412 

Anglo-Saxon  versions,  325 

Antilegomena,  15,  18 

Antiochus,  Persecutions  by,  6,  45 

Antwerp  Polyglot,  397 

Apocalypses,  309 

Apocrypha,  13,  15,  16,  17,  18,  36,  40, 
44, 46,  210,  211,  347,  355,  360,  363, 


371,  390»  397 
"■  Ni 
Aquila,  14 


Apocryphal  New  Testament,  21,  61 


Aramaic,  3,  9,  13,  319 
Aratus,  52 


Archaeology  and  the  Bible,  24 
Archangels,  311,  313 
Ark  of  the  Covenant,  127,  129,  19! 
Armenian  version,  13,  325 
Aristeas,  Letter  of,  10 
Aristides,  Apology  of,  59 
Aristobulus,  10 
Asaph,  29,  31,  183,  233 
Assumption  of  Moses,  37,  47,  307, 

310 
Athanasius,  18,  55 
Ancren  Riwle,  335 
Augustine  (d.  430),  14,  15 
Augustine  (d.  604),  323,  324 
Aurelius,  323 

Babylonian  captivity,  5,  7,  292 
Babylonian  Job,  235 
Babylonian  story  of  Creation,  25 
Badius,  Conrad,  370 
Ballads  and  folk-songs,  34 
Bancroft,   Bishop  of  London,  393, 

394 
Barnabas,  Epistle  of,  18 
Bartholomaeus  Anglicus,  345 
Baroody,  A.  T.,  238 
Barton,  G.  A.,  24,  25,  26,  30,  235 
Baruch,  Apocalypses  of,  38,  310 
Baskett,  J.,  400 
Bay  Psalm  Book,  404 
Beatitudes,  72,  237,  342 
Bede,  323,  324,  327,  328,  332,  341 
Beelzebub,  313 
Behemoth,  239,  243 
Benisch,  A.,  422 
Bertha,  324 

Beza,  12,  370,  372,  397,  412 
Bickley,  Bishop  of  Chichester,  374 
Bildad,  246,  251,  254,  258 
Bilson,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  393 
Biblia  Pauperum,  326 
Blayney,  Benjamin,  399 
Blessing  of  Jacobi  30 


437 


438 


INDEX 


Bo€thius,  332 

Bonner,  Bishop,  367 

Bishop's  Bible,  15,  372,  373,  374, 
376,  383,  39i»  394 

Book  of  Common  Prayer,  15,  414 

Booths,  Feast  of  (see  also  Taber- 
nacles), 200 

Bossuet,  J.  B.,  205,  206 

Bran,  323 

"  Breeches  Bible,"  372 

Briggs,  C.  A,,  72,  82,  89,  411 

Brihtwold,  332 

Bristow,  Richard,  379 

Britain,  Christianity  in,  323 

British  and  Foreign  Bible  Society,  16 

Buck,  John  and  Thomas,  400 

Burnet,  Bishop,  393 

Burton,  E.  D.,  60 

Caedmon,  327,  332 

Callimachus,  52 

Calvin,  John,  370 

Canterbury,  St.  Martin's  church  at, 

324 
Caractacus,  323 
Carleton,  J.  G.,  382 
Carlyle,  Thomas,  i8i 
Carthage,  Council  of,  15,  56 
Catholic  Encyclopedidy  17,  386 
Caves  of  Palestine,  113 
Caxton,  William,  344,  345 
Celestial  Hierarchy,  311,  317 
Celtic  Church,  323,  324,  325 
Celtic  Scholarship,  324 
Challoner,  Richard,  385,  386 
Chapter  and  Verse  division,  370,  419 
Charles,  R.  H.,  21,  37,  47,  51,  243, 

312 
Chaucer,  336,  337,  338,  344 
Choral  Singing,  184 
Chorals,  197 
Chronicles,  Books  of,  4,  7,  148,  271, 

363.  368,  371 
Church  of  England,  16,  381 
Church  of  the  New  Jerusalem,  421 
City  Scenes,  11 7- 119 
Clay,  A.  T.,  24,  25 
Cleanthes,  52 

Clement  of  Alexandria,  57,  59,  60,  67 
Clement   of  Lanthony  s    Harmony, 

335 


Clement  VIII,  17,  385 
Clementine  Epistles,  18 
Cochlaeus,  Joannis,  353 
Codex,  Alexandrinus,  12,  412 
Codex,  Amiatinus,  326 
Codex  of  Beza,  12,  412 
Codex,  Petrograd,  3 
Codex  Sinaiticus,  12,  411,  414 
Codex  Vaticanus,  12 
Coleridge,  S.  T.,  88 
Colman,  324 
Cologne  Fragment,  349 
Colossians,  Epistle  to  the,  302 
Complutensian  Polyglot,  346,  368 
Constantinople,  Capture  of,  345 
Convocation  of  Canterbury,  412, 415 
Cook,  A.  S.,  327,  331,  332,  334 
Coptic  (Egyptian)  versions,  13,  325 
Corinthians,  Epistles  to  the,  301 
Covenant,  Book  of  the,  6 
Covenants,  Old  and  New,  45 
Coverdale's    Bible,    344,    354,    355, 

356,  357,  358,  359,  360,  361,  362, 

363,  364,  368,  369,  371,  374,  383, 

388,  426,  427 
Cranmer,  Archbishop,  362,  366 
Cranmer's  Bible,  367 
Creation,  22,  25,  104 
Cromwell,    Sir  Thomas,    344,    356, 

358,  362,  366,  367 
Cromwell's  Bible,  367 
Cursor  Mundi,  335 
Cuthbert,  327,  329 
Cuthwine,  328 
Cynewulf,  Christ  of,  332 
Cyprian,  14 
Cyril,  55 

Damasus,  14,  329 

Daniel,  4,  293,  294,  309,  310, 318, 319 

Daniel,  Roger,  4CXD 

David,  29,  31,  125,  142,  143,  181, 

183,  186,  187,  233,  243 
David  and  Goliath,  190,  234 
Delgado,  I,  ^22 
Demetrius  Phalereus,  10 
Desert,  113 
Deuteronomy,  4, 6,  34, 134,  231,  246, 

271 
Deutero-canonical  books,  15 
De  Valera,  Cipriano,  397 


INDEX 


439 


De  Voragine,  Jacobus,  344 

Devil,  264,  313 

Dickens,  Charles,  100 

Diatessaron  of  Tatian,  59 

Diocletian,  Persecutions  by,  45 

Diodati,  397 

Dionysius  the  Areopagite,  311 

Discrepancies  in  the  Bible,  5 

Dobneck,  Johann,  353 

Douay  Version,  3,  15,  18,  19,  20,  351, 

377,  382,  383,  384,  385,  386,  387, 

388,  389,  397,  409 
Driver,  S.  R.,  23,  24,  183,  205,  209, 

240,  309,  375 
Dryden,  John,  402 
Durham  Book,  329 

Eadfrith,  329,  330 

Ecclesiastes,  4,  5,  200,  226 

Ecclesiasticus,  210,  245 

Edomites,  289 

Edmunds,  A.  J.,  404 

Egypt,  27 

Egyptian  Hallel,  183,  192 

Egyptian  Tales,  24 

Eldad  and  Medad,  285 

Eleazar,  10 

Eleusis,  Mysteries  of,  277 

Eleutherus,  323 

Eli,  286 

Elihu,  239,  246,  247,  262,  263 

Elijah,  233,  285,  286 

Eliot's  Bible,  404,  408 

Eliphaz,  246,  250,  253,  257,  265 

Elisha,  285 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  391 

Elmslie,  W.  G.,  84,  85 

Elymas  the  Sorcerer,  283 

Emperour,  Martin,  361 

English  and  Hebrew  Poetry,  85 

Enoch,  Books  of,  37,  47,  212,  243, 

307,.  3 10,  312,  313,  315 
Ephesians,  Epistle  to  the,  302 
Ephraem  manuscript,  12 
Epimenides,  52 
Epiphanius,  52 
Epistles,  299 


Esther,  4,  5,  17,  163,  200 

Ethan,  31,  183,  189 

Ethelbert,  324 

Ethiopic  version,  13 

Euripides,  204,  234 

Eusebian  Canons,  329 

Eusebius,  45,  55,  66 

Exodus,  4,  14,  131,  246 

Ezekiel,  4,  236,  237,  240,  293,  294, 

309,318,319 
Ezra,  4,  7,  8,  148,  294,  363,  371 

Fables,  of  Jotham,  of  Jehoash,  222, 

272,  273 
Farmen  the  Presbyter,  330 
Fenton's,  F.,  Bible,  421 
"Five  Rolls,"  5,  200 
Fleming,  John,  406 
"Former  Prophets,"  4,  136 
Forshall,  J.,  338,  339 
Foxe's,  J.,  Book  of  Martyrs  {Actes  and 

Monuments),  341,  366,  367 
Franklin,  Benjamin,  401 
French  versions,  397 
Friedlander,  M.,  422 
Froschouer,  C,  355 
Fulke,  William,  378,  383,  387 

Gabriel,  313 

Gadreel,  312 

Galatians,  Epistle  to  the,  302 

Gardner,  P.,  loi 

Gasquet,  Father,  17 

General,  or  Catholic,  Epistles,  304 

Genesis,  4,  130 

Geneva  Version,  369,  371,  372,  375, 

376,  383,  391,  392,  397,  400 
Gilbey,  Anthony,  371 
Ginsburg,  C.  D.,  4,  207,  355 
Gnomic  Poetry,  222-224 
Golden  Legend,  344 
Gospels,  Apocryphal,  21,  61 
Gospels,  59767,  153-ISS,  299 
Gothic  version,  13 
Gower,  336 

Grafton,  Richard,  361,  366,  367,  368 
Great  Bible,  344,  358,  366,  368,  369, 


Erasmus,  346,  347,  353,  368  373,  374,  375,  383 

Esdras,  Books  of,  7,  15,  36,  309,  310,       "Great  He"  and  "She"  Bibles,  399, 


320,  390 
Essenes,  6 


400 
Great  Synagogue,  8 


440 


INDEX 


Green,  J.  R.,.337.  344 

Gregory  Nazianzen,  55 

Gregory  the  Great,  330,  331 

Grenfell,  B.  P.,  67 

Guest,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  374 

Gutenberg,  345 

Guthlac,  327 

Habakkuk,  4,  237,  293,  294,  295 

Hagar,  233 

Haggai,  4,  290,  293,  294 

Hallel,  183 

Halle's  Chronicle,  354,  363 

Hammurabi,  Code  of,  23 

Hampton    Court   Conference,    392, 

394 
Harris,  J.  R.,  51,  59 
Harrison,  F.,  337 
Harwood,  Edward,  401,  402 
Heavens,  315 
Hebrew  Scriptures,  3,  4,  7,  8,   18, 

423 
Hebrews,  Epistle  to  the,    18,   300, 

304 
Hebrew  texts  printed,  346 
Helbing,  R.,  67 
Heman,  31,  183,  189 
Henry  VIII,  344,  359 
Hermes  Trismegistus,  53,  312 
Hexatla  of  Origen,  14 
Hezekiah,  28,  29,  222 
Higden's  Polychronicouy  345 
Hilda,  Abbess,  324 
Hilkiah,  7 
Hippo  Synod  of,  15 
Hort,  F.  J.  A.,  411 
Hosea,  4,  232,  236,  291 
Hugues  de  St.  Cher,  370 
Hunt,  A.  S.,  67 

Idols  and  Idolatry,  286,  287,  288 

Idyls,  204 

Imagery  of  the  Orientals,  98 

Immortality  of  the  Soul,  41,  42,  255 

Ireland,  325,  385 

Irenaeus,  65,  67 

Isaac,  233 

Isaiah,  4,  232,  240,  311 

Ishmael,  233 

Issaverdens,  J.,  39 

Itala  version,  14 


James  I,  39i>  392 

Jamnia,  Council  of,  6,  410 

James,  Epistle  of,  15,  18,  213,  300, 

305 
fannes  and  Jambres,  37,  307 
fasher,  Book  of,  30,  3 1 
fastrow,  M.,  235 
fehovah,  417,  418 
[eremiah,  4,  236,  293,  294 
ferome,  6,  11,  14,  15,  56,  209,  325, 

,  335>  34S>  383,  387 

Jesus,  59,  153,   154,  15s,  156,  232, 

296 
Jesus,  Sayings  of,  46,  67-69,  414 
Jewish  English  version,  423 
Jewish  Publication  Society,  9,  213, 

409,  422,  423 
Job,  Book  of,  4,  23 1-267 
Joel,  4,  293 
John,  Epistles  of,  15,  18,  300,  305, 

306,  307 
John,  Gospel  of,  55,  56,  57,  59,  65, 

67,  154,  I5S».328 
[ohn  the  Baptist,  295,  296,  297 
fohn  of  Trevisa,  345 
fohnson,  Samuel,  402 
ionah,  4,  172,  288,  293,  358,  363 
Joseph,  24,  234,  235 
Joseph  of  Arimathea,  323 
Tosephus,  10,  52 
foshua,  4,  6,  137,  363 
foy's  New  Testament,  355 
luda,  Leo,  372 

Jude,  Epistle  of,  15, 18,  300,  307,  31a 
Judges,  4,  139 
Judith,  15,  33,  177 
Judithy  3^2 
Junius,  Franciscus,  397 

Kallen,  H.  M.,  238 
Kenrick,  Archbishop,  386,  409 
Kenyon,  F.  G.,  327 
Kinah,  or  Lamentation,  87 
Kings,  Books  of,  ^,  145 
King  James  Version,  12,  271,  35 1, 
383,  387,  388,  389,  392,  394,  397, 

398,  399.  400»  403.  4I2>  4H»  4^7* 

418,  419 
Knox,  T .  F.,  378 
Koheleth,  200,  210 
Korahite  Psalms,  183,  233 


INDEX 


441 


Lachmann,  C,  411 

Lamentations,  4,  5,  200,  294 

Laodicea,  Council  of,  56 

Laodiceans,  Epistle  to  the,  55 

Langton,  Stephen,  370 

Lanier,  Sidney,  88 

Latin  versions,  13,  14  (see  also  Vul- 
gate) 

"Latter  Prophets,"  4 

"Law,  The,"  4,  29,  44,  423 

Leeser,  Isaac,  409,  423 

Lemuel,  King,  223 

Leo  X,  346 

Leviathan,  239,  243 

Leontopolis,  Temple  at,  10 

Leviticus,  4,  23,  132 

Liudhard,  324 

Lindisfarne  Gospels,  325,  326,  329, 
330 

Lmgard,  J.,  323,  324,  326,  329 

Lists  of  New  Testament  Books,  18, 

55.  56,  57 
Lists  of  Old  Testament  Books,  4,  5, 

6,  18 
Lloyd,  Bishop,  399 
Lloyd's,  S.,  New  Testament,  421 
Lord's  Prayer,  76,  77,  416 
Lost  Books,  32,  33 
Lost  Books  of  New  Testament,  49, 

53 
Lowell,  J.  R.,  102 
Lowth,  R.,  70,  71,  88,  109,  III,  203, 

204 
Lucian,  402 
Liike,  Gospel  of,  55,  56,  57,  59,  62- 

64,  65,  67,  153,  155 

Luther,  16,  347,  348,  352,  353,  354 

Maccabees,  Books  of,  41,  333 

Mace,  William,  401 

Madden,  F.,  338,  339 

"Major  Prophets,"  5 

Malachi,  4,  293,  295,  363 

Margolis,  M.  L.,  9,  423 

Mark,  Gospel  of,  55,  56,  57,  59,  63, 

65,  (£,  67,  153,  154 
Mark  Twain,  389 
Martin,  Gregory,  378,  386 
Mary  Queen  of  Scots,  381 
Massorites,  4,  370,  410,  411,  416 
Mather,  Cotton,  405 


Matthaean  Logia,  63,  65,  ^ 
Matthew,  Gospel  of,  55,  56,  57,  59, 

63,  65,  66,  67,  153,  154,  155 
Matthew's  Bible,  361-365,  366,  368, 

369>.37i. 
Mazarin  Bible,  345 
McMahon,  Father,  385 
Megilloth,  5,  200 
Melito,  17 
Messiah,  142,  310 
Messianic  Prophecy,  191,  297 
Micah,  4,  231,  293 
Micaiah,  242,  283,  284 
Michael,  307,  313 
Michelangelo,  19 
Midrashim,  33 
Millennium,  38,  315 
Milman,  H.  H.,  181 
"Minor  Prophets,"  5,  6 
Moabite  Stone,  29 
Moffat,  James,  49,  57,  298,  309,  421, 

422 
Mombert,  J.  L,  327 
Monmouth,  Humphrey,  348 
Montanus,  Arias,  397 
Montgomery,  J.  A.,  90-95 
Moore,  G.  F.,  238 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  356 
MorfiU,  W.  R.,  37,  243,  312 
Moses,  7,  135,  184,  185,  281,  282 
Moulfort's  manuscript,  346 
Moulton,  J.  H.,  G'j 
Moulton,  R.  G.,  193,  206 
Mountains  of  Palestine,  iii,  112 
Munster,  Sebastian,  368 
Muratorian  Fragment,  55,  310 

Naaman,  287 
Nahum,  4,  291,  293,  295 
Nary,  Father,  385 
Nathan,  274,  289 
Nature  in  Hebrew  poetry,  1 1 1 
Nehemiah,  4,  7,  148,  294,  363 
Newman,  Cardinal,  386 
Newman,  Selig,  422 
Nicaea,  Council  of,  56 
Nicholas  of  Hereford,  337 
Nicholson,  James,  357,  361 
Nourse,  James,  419 
Nineveh,  291 
Numbers,  4,  133 


442 


INDEX 


Obadiah,  4,  289,  293 

Olivetan,  363,  364 

Ophannim,  317 

Order  of  Books  of  New  Testament, 

56,  57 
Order  of  Books  of  Old  Testament, 

18,  128 
Origen,  14,  37,  47,  55,  201,  209,  300, 

307,  323.411 
Orosius,  332 
Ormulumy  334 
Owun,  330 
Oxyrhynchus  papyri,  67 

Pagnlnus,  358,  372 

Papias,  57,  66,  67 

Paradise,  315,  316 

Paragraph  Bible,  400,  419,  420 

Parallel  Bible,  400 

Parallelism  in  Hebrew  Poetry,  71-86 

Paris,  Thomas,  399 

Parker,  Archbishop,  372,  376 

Passover,  Feast  of,  5,  29,  192,  2Cxd 

Paul,  232,  234,  323 

Pauline  Epistles,  300-304,  410 

Pentateuch,  7,  10,  129,  358,  360,  363, 

422 
Pentecost,  Feast  of,  c,  192,  200 
Personification     and     Prosopopoeia, 

100-103 
Peter,  232,  323 
Peter,  Epistles  of,  15,  18,  300,  305, 

306,  312 
Petrie,  Flinders,  24 
Pharisees,  6 
Philo,  10,  52,  53 
Philastrius,  55 
Philemon,  Epistle  to,  304 
Phjlippians,  Epistle  to  the,  302 
Philocrates,  10 
Pilgrim  Psalms,  72 
Pius  X,  17 
Pollard,  A.  W.,  338,  339,  340,  348, 

349,  352,  353,  354,  355,  35^,  357, 
360,  362,  366,  367,  372,  373,  374, 
392,  393,  396,  398,  399,  400 

Prayers  in  the  Bible,  77 

Prayer  of  Manasses,  15,  36,  360,  363, 

371,  399        ^      .  . 
Preservation  of  wntmgs,  27-29 
Prometheus,  234 


"  Prophets,  The,"  4,  29,  44,  289,  293, 

295,297,319,423 
Prophets,  Pre-exilic  and  Post-exilic, 

293 
Proverbs,  30,  269 
Proverbs,  Book  of,  4,  200,  221 
Psalms,  Book  of,  4,  8,   15,  30,  36, 


180-199 
Salter,  Jei 


Psalter,  Jerome's  Hebrew,  15,  383 
Psalter,  Gallican,  15,  331,  383,  384 
Psalter,  Paris,  331 
Psalter,  Rolle's,  335 
Psalter,  Roman,  15,  331,  383,  384 
Psalter,  Surtees,  335 
Psalter,  Vespasian,  331 
Psalter,  West-Midland,  335 
Pseudepigrapha,  21,  38,  213 
Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  10,  204 
Purim,  Feast  of,  5,  163,  200 
Puritans,  391,  392 
Purver,  Anthony,  403 
Purvey,  John,  338,  339,  341 

"Q"  source,  63,  65 
Quirinius,  414 

Ramsay,  W.  M.,  414 

Raphael,  313 

Reading  of  Scriptures,  298 

"Redeemer,"  255 

Reformation,  16,  326,  393 

Regnault,  357 

Resurrection  of  the  body,  43 

Revelation,  Book  of,  15,  18,  40,  300, 

309,  310,  311,  318,  320-322 
Revelation  of  Peter,  55,  310 
Revised  Version,  19,  388,  412-420 
Rheims-Douay    Version,     377-390. 

See  also  Douay  Version 
Rhythm  in  Hebrew  Poetry,  87-96 
Rihbany,  A.  M.,  97,  98,  268 
Rogers,  John,  361,  362,  363,  364 
Romans,  Epistle  to  the,  301 
Roman  Catholic  Church,  15,  18,  36, 

324,  325,  381,  387 
Runnus,  it,  56 

Rules  for  Translators,  373,  395,  415 
Rushworth  Gloss,  330 
Ruskin,  John,  104 
Russian  Greek  Church,  16 
Ruth,  4,  5,  136,  157-162,  200,  205 


INDEX 


443 


Sadducees,  6,  44 

Sampson,  Thomas,  371 

Samson,  141,  158,  205 

Samuel,  Books  of,  4,  142 

Satan,  235,  239,  243,  264,  315 

Satans,  312,  317 

Sayce,  A.  H.,  28,  29 

Sayings  of  Jesus,  46,  67-69,  414 

Scarlett,  Nathaniel,  403 

Scrivener,  F.  H.  A.,  399 

Sea,  114-117 

"  Second  Isaiah,"  240,  293 

Selden,  John,  397 

Selwyn,  W.,  412 

Septuagint,  8,  9,  11,  145,  294,  346, 

347 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  155,  213,  279 
Sheol,  316,  418 
Shepherd  of  Hermas,  18,  310 
Shepherds,  Syrian,  107 
Sibylline  Oracles,  310 
Siloam  Inscription,  29,  30 
Simon  the  Sorcerer,  283 
Sixtus  V,  17 
Skeat,  W.  W.,  330 
Smith,  Bishop  of  Gloucester,  393 
Smith,  G.  A.,  85 
Smith,  George,  25 
Solomon,  31,  125,  210 
Song  by  the  Sea,  30,  184 
Song  of  the  Bow,  31,  187 
Song  of  Deborah,  30,  101-103 
Song  of  Solomon  (or  Song  of  Songs), 

4,  5,  200-09 
Song  of  the  Sword,  30 
Song  of  the  Well,  30 
Songs  of  Ascents,  180,  192 
Sopherim,  3,  4,  9,  411 
Sorcerers,  etc,  281,  282,  287 
Sources  of  the  Pentateuch,  34 
SpectatOTy  They  275,  425 
Stanley,  A.  P.,  198,  326 
Stephanus,  370,  397 
Stevens,  W.  A.,  60 
Storrs,  R.  S.,  342 
Strahan,  J.,  241 

Sun  and  Moon,  Worship  of,  246,  287 
Swedenborg,  E.,  421 
Symbolic  visions,  309 
Symmachus,  14 
Syriac  version,  13,  60,  325 


Tabernacles,  Feast  of  (see  also 
Booths),  5,  192 

Tale  of  Two  Brothers,  24 

Talmud,  II,  312 

Targums,  9 

Tatian,  59 

Taverner's  Bible,  364,  369 

Tell-el-Amarna  tablets,  22 

Temple,  29,  148,  180,  289 

Temple,  Second,  8,  152,  180,  294 

Temple  psalmody,  186 

Terence,  204 

Tertullian,  14,  300,  323 

Testament  of  Levi,  317 

Testaments  of  the  Twelve  Patri- 
archs, 310 

Tetrapla  of  Origen,  14 

Theocritus,  203 

Theodoret,  201 

Theodotion,  14 

Thessalonians,  Epistles  to  the,  300, 
301 

Thomas,  Isaiah,  409 

Thomson,  Charles,  403,  404 

Thomson,  W.  M.,  107 

Thucydides,  loi 

Timothy,  Epistles  to,  303 

Tindale,  WilHam,  341,  344,  345,  347, 
348,  349,  351,  352,  353,  354,  355, 
356,  357,  358,  360,  362,  363,  364, 
368,369,  383,  388,  390*426 

Tindale's  translations,  347-355 

Tischendorf,  C,  411 

Titus,  Epistle  to,  303 

Tobit,  15,  33,  ^7^^  205 

Tomson,  Laurence,  372 

Torrey,  C.  C,  JJy  95,  96 

"Treacle  Bible,"  376 

Tregelles,  S.  P.,  411 

Tremellius,  397 

Trent,  Council  of,  15,  17 

"Troy's  Bible,"  386 

Tunstall,  Cuthbert,  347,  356 

"Twelve,  The,"  4,  5 

Twentieth  Century  New  Testament, 
421 

Uncanonical  Books  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, 39 

University  of  Pennsylvania,  i,  25, 
67,  404 


444 


INDEX 


Uriel,  313 

Urim  and  Thummim,  280,  287 

Ussher,  Archbishop,  399 

Valleys  of  Palestine,  112 

Vatican,  Council  of  the,  17 

Vaughan,  Stephen,  359 

"Vinegar  Bible,"  400 

Virgil,  203 

Vulgate,  IS,  17,  18,  19,  36,  145,  325, 
34S»  346,  347»  358,  360,  363,  364, 
368,  385,  387,  388,  389,  390,  408 

Wakefield,  Gilbert,  403 

Ward,  Monsignor,  386 

Warham,  Archbishop,  356 

Wars  of  the  Lord,  Book  of  the,  30 

Waterton,  D.,  338 

Wearmouth,  326 

Wedding  songs,  209 

Wells,  J.  E.,  336 

West-Saxon  Gospels,  332 

Westcott,  B.  F.,  339,  341,  352,  383, 

384,411 
Weymouth's,  R.  F.,  New  Testament, 

421 
Whitby,  Synod  of,  324 
Whitchurch,  Edward,  361,  366,  367, 

368 


Whittingham,  William,  370,  371 

Wilfrid,  324 

William  of  Malmesbury,  331 

William  of  Shoreham,  335 

Wisdom,  Kinds  of,  219 

Wisdom  of  Jesus,  6,  13,  210 

Wisdom  of  Solomon,  41,  210 

Witham,  Robert,  385 

Wright,  John,  409 

"Writings,  The,"  4,  5,  29,  44,  I24, 

293,  319,  ±23 
WyclifFe,  John,  326,  329,  336,  337, 
338,  340,  341,  342,  347,  348,  351, 
,   364*  377.  426 
Wycliffite  versions,   339,   341,   350, 

351.  358,  384.  389 

Ximenes,  Cardinal,  347 

Yarrow,  326 

Zachariah,  5 
Zacharias,  281 
Zealots,  6 

Zechariah,  4,  5,  243,  293,  294,  295 
Zedekiah,  284 
Zephaniah,  4,  293 

Zophar,  239,  240,  241,  246,  247,  252, 
256,  259 


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Prophecy  and  Authority:  a  study  b  the 

History  of  the  Doctrine  and  Interpretation  of  Scripture. 

By  KEMPER  FULLERTON 

Professor  of  Old  Testament  Language  and  Literature,  Oberlin  Graduate 
School  of  Theology 

Clotht  i2mo. 

The  purpose  of  this  volume  is  two-fold — to  discuss  the  principles  and 
the  interpretation  of  Messianic  prophecy  in  view  of  the  recent  revival  of 
Millenialist  claims,  and  to  re-open  the  question  of  the  nature  of  the  Bible 
as  a  principle  of  authority  in  Protestant  theology. 

The  author  seeks  to  trace  the  way  in  which  the  methods  of  interpreta- 
tion and  the  doctrines  of  Scripture  affect  each  other  in  the  Church's  in- 
terpretation of  prophecy  and  to  show  how  the  scientific  principles  of  in- 
terpretation adopted  by  the  reformers  inevitably  lead  to  the  abandon- 
ment of  the  Millenialist  theory  and  dogmatic  view  of  Scripture,  and  that 
these  results  are  at  the  same  time  religiously  desirable. 

Studies  in  Mark's  Gospel 

By  a.  T.  ROBERTSON,  M.A.,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  of  New  Testament  Interpretation  at  the  Southern  Baptist 
Theological  Seminary 

Cloth,  i2mo. 

This  book  aims  to  help  the  modem  man  to  see  Jesus  as  Mark  saw  Him 
in  the  first  glow  of  enthusiasm  under  Peter's  preaching.  It  is  readable  and 
yet  thoroughly  scholarly  and  makes  use  of  the  results  of  synoptic  crit- 
icism to  show  the  historical  foundation  of  our  knowledge  of  the  life  of 
Christ.  It  is  not  commentary,  nor  yet  exposition,  but  a  critical  discussion 
of  the  chief  aspects  of  this  earUest  of  our  Gospels.  The  work  is  a  real  in- 
troduction to  Mark's  Gospel  and  will  unlock  its  treasures  for  all  who 
read  it. 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

Publisheis        64-66  Fifth  Avenue        New  York 


The  Coming  of  the  Lord 

Will  it  be  Preimilennial? 

By  JAMES  H.  SNOWDEN,  D.D.,  LL.D. 

Professor  of  Syst«^matic  Theology  in  the  Western  Theological 
Seminary,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Goth  12'',  $1.75 

The  question  of  the  second  or  final  coming  of  Christ  has  been  an 
important  and  at  times  an  intensely  interesting  and  stirring  one  from 
the  days  of  Christ  and  his  apostles  to  the  present  hour.  The  great  War 
has  again  kindled  it  into  intensity,  and  numerous  "  prophetic  confer- 
ences "  are  being  held  and  many  books  on  it  are  appearing. 

Dr.  Snowden's  book  is  probably  the  first  comprehensive  and  systematic 
and  scholarly  treatment  of  the  question  which  has  been  produced  since 
Dr.  David  Brown's  well-known  "  Second  Advent "  appeared  seventy 
years  ago,  a  work  that  has  ever  since  been  an  authority  on  the  post- 
millenarian  side  but  is  now  in  some  respects  out  of  date.  The  present 
work  is  based  on  a  broad  study  of  the  literature  of  the  subject,  the 
list  of  "  Works  Consulted  "  prefixed  to  it  comprising  about  one  hundred 
and  twenty  authors.  The  literature  on  both  sides  of  the  question  has 
been  read  and  the  treatment  of  it  in  this  book  is  characterized  through- 
out by  impartiality,  fairness,  and  a  sincere  desire  and  effort  to  reach 
and  state  the  truth.  All  difficulties  are  frankly  faced,  and  the  discus- 
sion is  pervaded  by  the  spirit  of  brotherly  kindness  and  courtesy.  Pre- 
millenarians  can  read  this  book  without  feeling  that  they  have  been 
misrepresented  and  without  irritation.  Whatever  one's  point  of  view 
on  the  question,  he  will  find  this  work  informing  and  inspiring.  It  is 
not  a  technical  and  dry  book,  but  a  live  and  interesting  one,  and  even 
a  sense  of  humor  is  not  lacking  in  its  pages.  Its  concluding  chapter 
on  "Is  the  World  Growing  Better?  "  is  a  notable  piece  of  writing  and 
is  probably  the  best  available  statement  and  proof  of  an  optimistic  view 
of  the  world. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers     64-66  Fifth  Avenue     New  York 


A  NEW  VOLUME  IN  THE  BIBLE  FOR  HOME  AND  SCHOOL 

SERIES 

Commentary  on  the  Epistle  of  Paul 
to  the  Romans 

By  EDWARD  INCREASE  BOSWORTH 

Cloth,  i2ftto. 

The  author  of  this  Commentary  has  endeavored  to  help  those  who  use 
it  read  Paul's  letter  to  the  Romans  with  due  regard  to  the  pre-suppwsitions 
which  possessed  Paul's  mind  and  the  minds  of  those  to  whom  it  was 
addressed,  no  matter  to  what  extent  these  pre-suppositions  have  passed 
out  of  modern  thought.  He  has  tried  to  do  this  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring 
out  the  essential,  vital  facts  of  Christian  experience  which  may  persist 
under  many  forms  of 

OTHER   VOLUMES  IN 

The  Bible  for  Home  and  School  Series 

SHAILER  MATHEWS,  General  Editor 

GENESIS,  by  Professor  H.  G.  Mitchell $.90 

DEUTERONOMY,  by  Professor  W.  G.  Jordan 75 

JUDGES,  by  Professor  Edward  L.  Curtis 75 

JOB,  by  Professor  George  A.  Barton 90 

ISAIAH,  by  Professor  John  E.  McFadyen 90 

AMOS,  HOSEA,  and  MICAH,  by  Professor  J.  M.  Powis  Smith  .    .  75 

MATTHEW,  by  Professor  A.  T.  Robertson 60 

MARK,  by  Professor  M.  W.  Jacobus 75 

ACTS,  by  Professor  George  H.  Gilbert 75 

GALATIANS,  by  Professor  B.  W.  Bacon 50 

EPHESIANS  AND  COLOSSIANS,  by  Reverend  Gross  Alex- 
ander   SO 

HEBREWS,  by  Professor  E.  J.  Goodspeed 50 

VOLUMES  IN  PREPARATION 

I  SAMUEL  By  Professor  L.  W.  Batten 

PSALMS  By  Reverend  J.  P.  Peters 

JOHN  By  Professor  Shailer  Mathews 

I  AND  n  CORINTHIANS  By  Professor  J.  S.  Riggs 


THE   MACMILLAN    COMPANY 

Publishers         64-66  Fifth  Avenue         New  York 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
BERKELEY 

Return  to  desk  from  which  borrowed. 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


24Fs!:'5C''V 
17Dec'57RK 


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REC'D  LD 

MAY  6    1959 


^       30ct'623C 
RtC'D  LD 

OCT!    1962 


*N 


LD  21-100m-ll,'49(B71468l6)476 


YB  44800 


"-•VER.,TVOPCAUP0RNUUBR^V 


